Study:Midwest hospitals lead in performance

According to a new study, hospitals in the Midwest are performing particularly well compared with their counterparts elsewhere in the country. The study, which was performed by Solucient, identifies 100 benchmark hospitals based on their overall performance each year. Criteria for screening the hospitals covered nine key factors, including risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, patient safety, core measures average, growth in patient volume and severity-adjusted average length of stay. 

During 2006, more than half of the hospitals falling into the top 100 were from the Midwest. And two states in particular--Michigan and Ohio--accounted for a striking 30 of the top 100 hospitals. Meanwhile, hospitals in the West and South had the lowest expenses, while those in the West and Midwest were the most profitable.

So what distinguished the the top 100 hospitals from non-winners? Among other things, median total profit margins at winning hospitals were three times the median of their peers, in part because they spent an average of 12 percent less per discharge. Another notable finding was that benchmark hospitals pay $3,200 more a year per full-time staff member.

To get more data from the study:
- read the Solucient press release

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