National Quality And Safety Study Ranks Rush Among Top Five Performing Academic Medical Centers In The USA

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 12 Oct 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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Rush University Medical Center is ranked number three among an elite group of five top performing academic medical centers in the country in a study examining key measures of quality and safety. Rush ranked better than any other hospital in the state.

This was the third year in a row that Rush ranked in the top 10 in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) annual Quality and Accountability study. In fact, Rush is one of only three hospitals that ranked in the top 10 for the three years that the study has been conducted. This year, UHC examined 83 academic medical centers regarding measures of patient safety, effectiveness, equity of care, efficiency and patient centeredness. Of particular note is that for the third consecutive year, Rush received a perfect score of 100 percent in the category of "equity of care," indicating that Rush's safety and quality of care does not vary regardless of the patient's gender, race or socioeconomic status.

"The UHC study again has affirmed that patients at Rush receive some of the best medical care available anywhere in the country," said Dr. Larry J. Goodman, Rush president and CEO. "Rush's inclusion among the five top performing medical centers this year also reflects the Medical Center's committed to continuous improvement even as we provide an exceptionally high level of care."

In addition to Rush, this year's other top performers are Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; Methodist Hospital-Clarian Health in Indianapolis (Indiana University); and the University of Kansas Hospital Authority in Kansas City.

Unlike other reviews of hospitals that take into account reputation, the UHC study is completely objective; it's based entirely on patient-level outcomes data, measuring patient safety, mortality, efficiency and equity of care. The goal of UHC's quality and accountability ranking is to assess organizational performance across a broad spectrum of high-priority dimensions of patient care. The UHC conducted the first landmark study in 2005 to identify the characteristics of high-performing academic medical centers.

The UHC is an alliance of 97 academic medical centers and 153 of their affiliated hospitals representing more than 90 percent of the nation's non-profit academic medical centers. Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, the UHC offers its members products and services to improve clinical, operational, financial and supply chain performance.

The UHC has found that top performing medical centers such as Rush have certain key features, including collaborative partnerships between physicians, nurses and other care providers; accountability for service, quality and safety at all levels; and a focus on excellence.

"We are honored to be named a UHC top performer once again, and this shows the true meaning of the hard work and dedication of every employee at Rush. Their hard work and dedication is what our mission is all about: providing the very best care for our patients," Goodman said.

http://www.rush.edu

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