Medical Centers Deliver Region’s Best Patient-Care Value

By Kevin Lamb, Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Jun. 24–Upper Valley Medical Center and Kettering Medical Center-Sycamore deliver the Dayton area’s best patient-care value in the new national Hospital Value Index compiled by Data Advantage. Both also rank among the “100 best-kept secrets” among more than 1,500 hospitals in the country’s 98 largest markets.

The Dayton market ranks 71st out of 98 and sixth of seven in Ohio, based on quality, cost and satisfaction measures at eight general hospitals in Montgomery, Greene and Miami counties.

The country would save about $273 billion a year in hospital charges if all 1,514 hospitals in the study “were to perform at levels consistent with those performing in the top quartile,” said the “Hospital Value Index” report released Tuesday, June 24, at www.hospitalvalueindex.com. Upper Valley in Troy is in the top 25 percent nationally in “affordability and efficiency,” which includes both hospitals’ list prices for common outpatient services and how much they spend in providing health care, as reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Sycamore in Miamisburg is in the top 25 percent for both quality and patient satisfaction, as determined by survey data. Quality scores are based on how well hospitals follow accepted medical protocols and patient-safety standards. Data Advantage used existing data, primarily from federal reporting, which generally covers such processes as giving patients the recommended drugs but not whether they survive or avoid complications.

Satisfaction is worth 10 percent of the total score, and the others 45 percent each.

Data Advantage has compiled and analyzed clinical and financial information for 15 years. Hospitals buying its services typically use them for improving their own costs and establishing competitive prices, the report said.

“Few hospitals, if any, have pursued the question of value of care: that which is delivered to communities, patients and consumers for the dollar spent.”

Total value scores for Upper Valley and Sycamore — 70.0 and 68.6, respectively — are below the “100 Best Value Hospitals,” with scores ranging from 84.1 to 70.4.

Also evaluated for the report were Dayton Heart, Good Samaritan, Greene Memorial and Miami Valley hospitals, Kettering Medical Center and Grandview Hospital & Medical Center.

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