Truven recently conducted its annual 100 Top Hospitals Study. Using objective and independent research, and publicly available information, Truven determines the top-performers based on a variety of performance measures, from mortality to readmissions. For this first time in the study’s 23-year history, the top-performing hospitals were able to simultaneously improve outcomes and reduce costs. When interviewed about the reason behind this unprecedented trend, Truven’s Senior VP of Performance Improvement credited “uniformity and consistency.” But the report reveals other commonalities among the winners: Data and Analytics Evidence-Based Practices Standardization This curation summarizes the study’s high-level findings, including specific achievements.

1. The Top 100 Hospitals Improve
Outcomes and Reduce Costs
- Paul Horstmeier

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The 100 Top Hospitals
The results of Truven’s Annual 100 Top Hospitals Study in 2016
revealed an exciting healthcare outcomes improvement trend:
The majority of the study’s top-performing
hospitals improved outcomes and reduced
overall costs per patient, an unprecedented
trend in the 23-year history of the study.
Hospitals in three out of the five hospital
categories actually reduced overall
expense year over year, while improving
patient outcomes.”
̶ HealthcareDive.com

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How the Top 100 Hospitals Are Selected
Truven’s 100 Top Hospitals Study is
comprehensive, academically-driven, and
based on public information (i.e., Medicare
cost reports) and independent, objective
research; hospitals and health systems don’t
apply or pay for the top 100 distinction.

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How the Top 100 Hospitals Are Selected
In 2016, Truven evaluated 2,787 short-
term, acute care, non-federal hospitals
on clinical and operational performance
in 11 areas, from inpatient mortality to
Medicare spend per beneficiary.
The top 100 hospitals are chosen as a
result of their ability to demonstrate
performance on two aspects of care,
patient treatment and business
performance, and more than a dozen
measures.

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Top Hospitals Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs
Truven’s 2016 top-performing hospitals key results proved that
outcomes improvement can happen in tandem with reduced costs:
• Lower 30-day mortality and readmission rates
• Shorter Length of Stay
• Fewer patient complications
• Better survival rates
• Lower inpatient costs
• Year-over-year decline in total inpatient expense per discharge
• Higher profit overall margins

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Top Hospitals Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs
According to Truven, if all Medicare inpatients received the same level
of care as those treated in the top 100 hospitals:
• More than 140,000 additional lives could be saved.
• Nearly 48,400 additional patients could be complication free.
• $2 billion in inpatient costs could be saved.
• The average patient stay would decrease by ½ day.

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Outcomes Improvement Requires Data, Evidence-
Based Practices, and Standardization
Modern Healthcare’s article Truven’s 100
Top Hospitals focus on standardization to
improve outcomes, cut costs, describes
how one of Truven’s Everest Award
winners, Little Company of Mary, used
evidence-based practices to drive care
and data to discover outcomes
improvement focus areas.
Hospitals that did better on extended
outcome measures also appeared to be
working on improved care coordination.”
̶ Modern Healthcare

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Outcomes Improvement Requires Data, Evidence-
Based Practices, and Standardization
According to Jean Chenoweth, Truven’s Senior
Vice President of Performance Improvement:
You have to shift away from the process
improvement and focus on consistency and
uniformity. Setting a high rate of improvement
and achieving high-level performance is hard,
but maintaining it requires innovation and is
even harder.”
The top-performing hospitals are up against a
significant challenge in that sustaining outcomes
improvement is harder than achieving it.

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For more information:
“This book is a fantastic piece of work”
– Robert Lindeman MD, FAAP, Chief Physician Quality Officer

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More about this topic
Link to original article for a more in-depth discussion.
The Top 100 Hospitals Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs
Improving Healthcare Outcomes: Keep the Triple Aim in Mind
Michael Barton, Engagement Executive, VP; Tracy Vayo, Director, Knowledge Development
Kathleen Merkley, Clinical Improvement – VP
Patient Engagement And Outcomes Improvement from the Patient’s Perspective
Steve Catmull
Outcomes Improvement: What You Get When You Mix Good Data with Physician Engagement
Paul Horstmeier, Senior Vice President
Improving Outcomes for Sepsis Patients: 3 Key Solutions Proven to Help
Paul Horstmeier, Senior Vice President
Delivering Excellence: How Stanford Health Care Uses Analytics to Improve Outcomes
Paul Horstmeier, Senior Vice President

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Paul Horstmeier brings 25 years of Fortune 500 and small business operations and
general management experience to Health Catalyst. He co-founded HB Ventures and
filled senior executive roles at HB Ventures portfolio companies. Within Hewlett-Packard,
Mr. Horstmeier launched and grew three different businesses, including co-founding HP's
commercial e-commerce business which later expanded to include the management of
the data systems and infrastructure for marketing operations across the company. As Vice President
of HP.com, he headed up a 700-person organization which was awarded nearly every industry award
for quality and innovation during his tenure.
Other Clinical Quality Improvement Resources
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