Methodist Ranked in Top 5 in U.S. For Care
By Daniel Lee, The Indianapolis Star
Oct. 17–Methodist Hospital, part of Clarian Health, this month became one of five academic medical centers across the nation recognized for being a top performer in providing high-quality care.
The University HealthSystem Consortium’s 2007 Quality and Accountability rankings looked at measures of safety, effectiveness, equity and patient- centeredness of 83 academic medical centers and affiliated hospitals submitting data.
Clarian Chief Executive Daniel Evans called Methodist’s top-five ranking a “super achievement.”
He said Clarian regularly uses specific performance measures such as tracking medication use, on-time surgery starts and efforts to control infection. “The trick was measuring everything,” he said.
Evans said the consortium team commented that Methodist Hospital is adept at learning from its errors by studying them and making changes to help prevent similar mistakes. “We take a very liberal approach on reporting errors,” he added.
Methodist joins Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Boston facility affiliated with Harvard University; the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota; Rush University Medical Center in Chicago; and the University of Kansas Hospital Authority.
Indiana University Hospital, another Clarian hospital, was one of seven consortium member organizations recognized for improvements in quality and accountability measures. Clarian’s Riley Hospital for Children did not participate in the rankings.
The Illinois-based University HealthSystem Consortium, an alliance of 97 academic medical centers, began its Quality and Accountability rankings in 2005.
Dr. D. Craig Brater, dean of the IU School of Medicine, said improving hospital safety means creating a culture where all workers — doctors, nurses, technicians and others — feel the freedom and responsibility to speak up when something doesn’t seem right. The recognition for Methodist, he added, means Indiana’s next generation of doctors is learning those lessons.
“It means that our students and residents are growing up in a culture like that, and they will carry that with them when they go out in the state,” Brater said.
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