HMC Names 2009 National "Top Performer" Hospital
Utah-based Dixie Regional Medical Center uses HMC tools to control costs and maintain patient care quality
NEEDHAM, MASS. – February 2, 2010 – The Healthcare Management Council, Inc. (HMC) named Dixie Regional Medical Center (DRMC) as its national “Top Performer” hospital.
This is the first year HMC is recognizing outstanding hospitals as Top Performers. In selecting the winners, analysts scored each hospital according to seven criteria, including cost-per-adjusted admission, overall profitability, and patient satisfaction. HMC believes these criteria enable hospitals to accurately measure how effectively they are delivering healthcare value.
HMC analysts found DRMC met six of the seven Top Performer criteria. A 245-bed referral center based in St. George, Utah, DRMC has been an HMC client for nearly 10 years. The DRMC is also part of Intermountain Healthcare, a Salt Lake City-based system with more than 32,000 employees and 23 hospitals.
“Finding the right balance between cost management, quality improvement, and growth is a tall order these days,” said John Whittlesey, HMC principal and one of the Top Performer judges. He explained DRMC had one of the strongest overall cost positions in its peer group, scored in the upper quartile for quality using the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety and Quality Indicators, and has consistently maintained a positive bottom line.
“Moreover, DRMC scored the highest in its peer group for overall patient satisfaction, and showed a remarkable 22 percent decrease in cited savings potential over the previous year’s benchmark report,” Whittlesey said.
According to Mary Hatch, chief financial officer for DRMC, the HMC tools enable staff to do drill-down analysis for cost control. “We have been able to make changes that didn’t affect the quality of patient care, but did make a cost savings,” said Hatch. This “tightening up” included the standardization of supplies and equipment to receive better pricing from suppliers, the conservation of power and water, and other similar initiatives, she explained.
Among HMC’s eight Top Performer hospitals, three, including DRMC, were part of Intermountain Healthcare. Another was American Fork Hospital, based in American Fork, Utah, which was a Top Performer. The third was the Utah Valley Medical Center, based in Provo, Utah, which won an HMC “Honorable Mention.
About HMC
HMC is the leading provider of actionable performance benchmarking, encompassing quality, cost, productivity, patient satisfaction, span of control, best practices, and dashboards. HMC enables hospital managers to achieve their full potential for excellence.
For further information: http://www.hmc-benchmarks.com
For press inquiries only, contact Marc Songini:
| Email: | msongini@hmccentral.com |
| Phone: | (781) 449-5287 |
