Here’s What the Numbers Say: IBM Watson Top 100 Hospitals

IBM Watson released its Top 100 Hospitals of 2018 in May, evaluating 2,785 hospitals across the United States. The annual study looks for top-performing hospitals in the U.S. based on a balanced scorecard evaluating ‘publicly available clinical, operational, and patient satisfaction metrics and data’. The metrics include analysis of key performance measures including better survival rate, fewer complications and infections, shorter length of stay, shorter emergency department wait times, lower inpatient expenses, higher profit margins, and higher patient satisfaction scores. To land in the Top 100 Hospitals is an honor healthcare networks, but more than that, it sets a standard for how other hospitals should perform. What does it mean to stack up against a Top 100 hospital? Let’s take a look at some performance indicators:

• The Top 100 had 18.7% fewer healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). HAIs can cause serious financial burdens and are responsible for tens of thousands of lives. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has previously identified the reduction of healthcare-associated infections as an Agency Priority Goal.
• The Top 100 hospitals maintained a median profit margin that was 10.6% higher than their peers. From a productivity standpoint, Top 100 Hospitals have the formula for an efficient and effective care. Patients see the value in top quality healthcare, and because of this Top 100 hospitals are prioritized as treatment centers. Added to this, Top 100 hospitals also averaged a 7% lower inpatient discharge cost.
• Top Performing Hospitals show that 35.2% of hospitals have improved their 30-day re-admission rate. Patients get better and stay better at these hospitals. Readmission is incredibly costly to hospitals – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will dock medicare payout to hospitals with readmission rates too high.
• When compared to peer hospitals, hospitals that ranked in the Top 100 had a 3.4% higher patient satisfaction and 12.2% of those hospitals achieved significant improvement in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient satisfaction scores. Generally speaking, patients in Top 100 hospitals were more satisfied with their treatments.

Net Health products are currently implemented in 36 of the Top 100 Hospitals. We are proud to be supporting the life-changing work pursued by distinguished healthcare groups.

To look further at what these statistics represent, look at a comparison example prepared by Healthleaders Fact File:

Extrapolating the results of this year’s study if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:

• More than 102,000 additional lives could be saved
• More than 43,000 additional patients could be complication-free
• More than $4.4 billion in inpatient costs could be saved
• Approximately 200,000 fewer discharged patients would be readmitted within 30 days

Want to see the full Fact File? Download the infographic by clicking here. 

Sources:
https://health.gov/hcq/prevent-hai.asp
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-watson-health-announces-100-top-hospitals-300607878.html