News Releases

Earns 15 Top Systems Honor for Fifth Year

Spectrum Health was again named one of the 15 top health systems and one of the five top large health systems in the nation by Truven Health, based on key performance measures in quality, safety and patient satisfaction. This is the fifth time since 2010 that Spectrum Health has received this honor.

The Truven Health 15 Top Health Systems® study evaluates performance in eight key areas: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, 30-day mortality rate, 30-day readmission rate, adherence to clinical standards of care (evidence-based core measures published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), and HCAHPS patient survey score (part of a national initiative sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals).This year’s study included 338 health systems with 2912 hospitals.

“Spectrum Health is honored to be recognized as one of the top five large health systems in the country. To receive this commendation five times is quite an achievement,” said Richard C. Breon, President & CEO, Spectrum Health. “This hard-won recognition is a reflection of the integrated work our hospitals, physicians and health plan are doing across our entire system to improve the health of the communities we serve.”

Public data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) dataset and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare datasets was analyzed by researchers.

Among the key findings in the study were the following:

• Better Survival Rates: The winning 15 top health systems experienced 2-percent fewer deaths than non-winning peer-group hospitals.
• Lower 30-Day Mortality Rates: Winning systems’ 30-day mortality rates were lower than peer systems’, and smaller-sized winning systems outperformed their peers by the widest margin.
• Fewer Complications: Patients of the winning health systems had 3-percent fewer complications than patients in other systems.
• Shorter Hospital Stays: Patients treated in the winning system hospitals had a median average length of stay of 4.5 days, over half a day shorter than their peers’ median of 5.0 days.
• Better Patient Safety and Core Measure Adherence: The top health systems had 8-percent fewer adverse patient safety events than expected, given the case mix of the particular hospital, and had better adherence to core measures of care than their peers.

“This year’s health system winners are setting the national standard for higher quality, efficiency and patient perception of care, which together mean higher value for each community served,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals® programs at Truven Health Analytics. “These systems have strong leadership and clinical excellence. And they are, or stand to become, outstanding partners with employers and other stakeholders in setting goals for improving community health.”

The winning health systems were announced in the April 25th edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system, based in West Michigan, offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of 12 hospitals, including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital; 178 ambulatory and service sites; more than 3,400 physicians and advanced practice providers, including about 1,400 members of the Spectrum Health Medical Group; and Priority Health, a health plan with about 721,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer, with 24,300 employees. The organization provided $283 million in community benefit during its 2015 fiscal year. Spectrum Health is the only health system in Michigan to be named one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems® by Truven Health Analytics for 2015. This is the fourth time the organization has received this recognition.

Contact:
Ellen Bristol
External Affairs Manager
Office: 616.391.4399
Mobile: 616.581.6474
Email: ellen.bristol@corewellhealth.org