Thomson Reuters released its annual study identifying the 100 top U.S. hospitals based on their overall organizational performance. The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospital: National Benchmarks study for 2009 evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, and post-discharge mortality and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia.
Measures for both 30-day readmission and 30-day mortality rates have been added, with data coming from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data set for 2007 and 2008 and Medicare cost reports for 2008. The study also used the CMS’ Hospital Quality Compare data from 2005 to 2008 to calculate rates for 30-day readmission and 30-day mortality rates. Hospital Quality Compare data for 2008 were used for a core measures score-an aggregate based on process-of-care standards for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical-infection prevention.