National study ranks St. Edward tops in care value among area hospitals

A national study of care provided by U.S. hospitals ranks St. Edward Mercy Medical as providing the best health care value in the Fort Smith area.

St. Edward and Sparks Health System were above the national average for the overall index, and both hospitals were at or above the national average for core measures. Summit Medical Center in Van Buren was below the national average for the overall index and core measures.

Summit CEO Pam Trahan said the index doesn’t yet reflect improvements begun in early 2008.

“We have taken steps to ensure that our ranking will only improve. In January 2008, we initiated a comprehensive quality improvement plan across all spectrums of care, and we have seen and continue to see steady and significant improvements in our Medicare quality core metrics,” Trahan said in a statement.

St. Edward and Sparks did not provide comments about the index.

Data Advantage, a company that provides hospitals, clinics and other health care companies independent information about costs and care, medical information from patient records converted into a rate or percentage that shows how well hospitals care for their patients. The company’s recent study examined quality, affordability and efficiency, and patient satisfaction at 4,500 hospitals.

The federal government is the nation’s largest single purchaser of healthcare services through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Under its Value-Based Purchasing initiative, CMS proposes to reimburse hospitals based on performance against established benchmarks, according to the statement from Data Advantage.

Each hospital is scored nationally on a 100-point scale. The three elements of quality, affordability and efficiency, and patient satisfaction are combined to create an aggregate National Value Score for each hospital, according to Data Advantage.

The index is generated using medical information from patient records converted into a rate or percentage that shows how well hospitals care for their patients.

AREA HOSPITAL RANKINGS
• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center
Overall care index: 67%
96% — “core measures” (value of treatment related to heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care)
18% — mortality rate for heart attack, same range as the national average
10% — heart failure, same range as the national average
11% — pneumonia, same range as the national average

• Sparks Health System
Overall care index: 59%
91% — “core measures” (value of treatment related to heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care)
21% — mortality rate for heart attack, worse than the national average
13% — heart failure, worse than the national average
11% — pneumonia, same range as the national average

• Summit Medical Center
Overall care index: 47%
90% — “core measures” (value of treatment related to heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care)
15% — mortality rate for heart attack, same range as the national average
11% — heart failure, same range as the national average
11% — pneumonia, same range as the national average

The national average for the overall index was 53%, with the national average on core measures reaching 91%.

Overall index of other Arkansas hospitals:
Healthpark Hospital (Hot Springs): 60%
St. Bernard’s Medical Center (Jonesboro): 60%
Arkansas Heart Hospital (Little Rock): 59%
Jefferson Regional Medical Center (Pine Bluff): 59%
Baptist Health Medical Center (Little Rock): 57%
Washington Regional Medical Center (Fayetteville): 54%
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center (Little Rock): 49%
St. Mary’s Mercy Medical Center (Rogers): 45%

OTHER FINDINGS
The Hospital Value Index found that the highest value hospital care is often provided by community-based hospitals, “suggesting that consumers may find high value close to home and that policymakers should expand their search for models of reform beyond ‘name-brand’ teaching hospitals.”

Also, if all U.S. hospitals performed at the average, about $60 billion a year could be saved on health care costs.

“As legislators consider health reform and as consumers shoulder an increasing burden of the cost of healthcare, it is important to recognize and reward those hospitals that deliver outstanding value,” John Morrow, a senior advisor to Data Advantage, said in the statement. “Healthcare consumers are increasingly making decisions based on value including quality, patient satisfaction and affordability. Hospitals providing the best value will ultimately be rewarded with more business.”

The study found that the top five states with hospitals delivering high value are North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and Maine. The bottom five states for finding hospitals providing high value care are New Mexico, Arkansas, California, Hawaii and Nevada.

Data Advantage included this note about its methodology and data sourcing: “The data used for creation of the Hospital Value Index are available from government agency-run public sources. All available data were incorporated; no statistical sampling or projection methodology was deployed. All data represent the most recently available as of July 20, 2009.”