Healthgrades Best Hospitals rankings announced: How much emphasis does your CDI or coding departments place on these or other awards?
Survey says: 57% place focus on these methodologies, 40% do not
By Brian Murphy
Healthgrades recently announced its top 50, top 100, and top 250 hospitals awards. I’ve listed the 50 hospitals below; do you see your home state or hospital represented?
Per its website, Healthgrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award™ recognizes 50 hospitals as the top 1% in the nation for consistent clinical excellence, based on an analysis of 31 risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates for common procedures and conditions. These include COPD, heart attack, heart failure, coronary interventional procedures, respiratory failure, pneumonia, sepsis, and others. In-hospital complications-based procedures and conditions include hip fracture treatment, back and neck surgeries, total hip and total knee procedures, and many more.
The top 50 hospitals must also demonstrate excellence over time, receiving a Healthgrades America’s 250 Best Hospitals Award in consecutive years over an extended period of time.
Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates are tracked using MedPAR data and a documentation query leading to a more accurate code assignment can move a patient in and out of a measure. So while actual clinical performance and quality of care is a huge factor in Healthgrades performance, so too is the work of mid-revenue cycle professionals.
Quality matters—or at least, public perception of quality. A recent Healthgrades survey found that 76% of consumers would only choose a hospital with high quality ratings for their condition or procedure. Some hospitals—especially those in competitive markets—place a huge emphasis on their rankings, pinning copies of their Healthgrades placement on their bulletin boards, in their email signatures, or take out newspaper ads and buy billboard space on major interstates to celebrate wins.
For others it seems to be ho-hum news.
How much of a focus does your CDI and/or coding program place on Healthgrades performance or other awards? I asked this poll on LinkedIn and received the following results:
- Major emphasis: 34%
- Somewhat; secondary goal: 23%
- Not a focus of our work: 40%
- Other: 3%
Healthgrades top 50 hospitals
Arizona
Mayo Clinic Hospital
California
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Memorial Medical Center
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center
Northridge Hospital Medical Center
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas
Stanford Health Care
Sutter Roseville Medical Center
UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center
Connecticut
Norwalk Hospital
Florida
AdventHealth Orlando
Mayo Clinic in Florida
Georgia
Emory University Hospital
Emory University Hospital Midtown
Illinois
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
Ascension Alexian Brothers
Carle Foundation Hospital
Kansas
University of Kansas Hospital
Massachusetts
Lahey Hospital and Medical Center
Michigan
Ascension Providence Hospital-Southfield Campus
Beaumont Hospital, Troy
Minnesota
Mayo Clinic Health System Mankato
Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Marys Campus
North Carolina
Mission Hospital
New Jersey
Morristown Medical Center
Overlook Medical Center
New York
Lenox Hill Hospital
Stony Brook University Hospital
Vassar Brothers Medical Center
Ohio
Bethesda North Hospital
Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital
Mercy Health-West Hospital
ProMedica Toledo Hospital
Summa Health System-Akron Campus
The Jewish Hospital-Mercy Health
Pennsylvania
Chester County Hospital
Lancaster General Hospital
Lankenau Medical Center
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Reading Hospital
Riddle Memorial Hospital
St. Luke’s Hospital-Bethlehem Campus
Wellspan Chambersburg Hospital
Texas
Houston Methodist Hospital
Washington
EvergreenHealth Medical Center-Kirkland
Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center
Wisconsin
Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital
References
- Healthgrades, Healthgrades Names 2024 America’s Best Hospitals: https://www.healthgrades.com/about/press-room/healthgrades-names-2024-americas-best-hospitals
- Beckers, Healthgrades’ 50 top hospitals for 2024: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/healthgrades-50-top-hospitals-for-2024.html
Interested in learning more about this topic and how Norwood can help improve your organization’s quality scorecards? Send an email to consulting@norwood.com
Related News & Insights
Living in Denial(s) with Karen Elmore, BJC Healthcare
Listen to the program here. Karen Elmore is living in denial(s). Her job as Senior…
Yet another reason to implement Annual Wellness Visits into your CDI/coding efforts
Detection of early cognitive decline the latest benefit of covered Medicare/Medicare Advantage service By Brian Murphy Medicare…