IBM Watson Health Announces 100 Top Hospitals

2019 Study Finds Top-Performing US. Hospitals Provide Better Care at Lower Cost and Higher Profit Margins Than Peers Evaluated in the Study

IBM Watson Health published its 100 Top Hospitals annual study identifying top–performing hospitals in the US. This study spotlights the best–performing hospitals in the U.S. based on a balanced scorecard using publicly available data for clinical, operational, and patient satisfaction metrics. The study is part of IBM Watson Health’s commitment to leveraging science and data to advance health and it has been conducted annually since 1993.

Overall, the Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals® study found that the top-performing hospitals in the country achieved better risk-adjusted outcomes while maintaining both a lower average cost per patient and higher profit margin than peer group hospitals that were part of the study.

“At a time when research shows that the U.S. spends nearly twice as much on healthcare as other high-income countries, yet has less effective population health outcomes¹, the 100 Top Hospitals are setting a different example by delivering consistently better care at a lower cost,” said Ekta Punwani, 100 Top Hospitals® program leader at IBM Watson Health.

Kyu Rhee, M.D., M.P.P., vice president and chief health officer at IBM Watson Health, added: “From small community hospitals to major teaching hospitals, these diverse hospitals have demonstrated that quality care, higher patient satisfaction, and operational efficiency can be achieved together. In this era of big data, analytics, transparency, and patient empowerment, it is essential that we learn from these leading hospitals and work to spread their best practices to our entire health system which could translate into over 100K more lives saved, nearly 40K less complications, over 150K fewer readmissions, and over $8 billion in savings.”

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Following were the key performance measurements on which 100 Top Hospitals showed the most significant average outperformance versus non-winning peer group hospitals (full study results available here):

• Higher Survival Rates: The 100 Top Hospitals winners achieved survival rates that were 24.9 percent higher than those of peer hospitals.
• Fewer Complications and Infections: Patients at winning hospitals experienced 18.7 percent fewer complications and 19.3 percent fewer healthcare-associated infections than peer group hospitals.
• Shorter Length of Stay: Winning hospitals had a median severity-adjusted length of stay that was one half-day shorter (0.5) than peers.
• Shorter Emergency Department Wait Times: Overall, winning hospitals delivered median emergency department wait times that were 17.3 minutes shorter than those of peer group hospitals.
• Lower Inpatient Expenses: Average inpatient costs per discharge were 11.9 percent lower (a difference of $830 per discharge) at 100 Top Hospitals versus peer group hospitals.
• Higher Profit Overall Margins: Winning hospitals maintained a median operating profit margin that was 11.9 percentage points higher than peer group hospitals.
• Higher Patient Satisfaction: Overall hospital experience, as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), was rated 3 percent higher for winning hospitals than peer group hospitals.

The IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals winners outperformed peer group hospitals within all 10 clinical and operational performance benchmarks evaluated in the study: risk-adjusted inpatient mortality index, risk-adjusted complications index, mean healthcare-associated infection index, mean 30-day risk-adjusted mortality rate, mean 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rate, severity-adjusted length of stay, mean emergency department throughput, case mix- and wage-adjusted inpatient expense per discharge, adjusted operating profit margin, and HCAHPS score.

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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 103,000 additional lives could be saved;
• More than 38,000 additional patients could be complication-free;
• More than $8.2 billion in inpatient costs could be saved; and
• Approximately 155,000 fewer discharged patients would be readmitted within 30 days.

In addition to the 100 Top Hospitals, the IBM Watson Health study also recognizes the 100 Top Hospitals Everest Award winners. These are hospitals that earned the 100 Top Hospitals designation and also are among the 100 top for rate of improvement during a five-year period. This year, there are 15 Everest Award winners.

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, IBM Watson Health researchers evaluated 3,156 short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals. All research was based on the following public data sets: Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not apply for awards, and winners do not pay to market this honor.

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