GLEN BURNIE, Md., March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Baltimore Washington Medical Center was today named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals(R) by Solucient(R), part of Thomson Healthcare, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. BWMC was the only hospital in Maryland and the District of Columbia to receive this award.
The award recognizes hospitals that have achieved excellence in clinical outcomes, patient safety, financial performance, efficiency and growth in patient volume.
“It is such an honor to be recognized among the best of the best,” said Melvin Kelly, Chairman of BWMC’s Board of Directors. “Being named the only Solucient(R) Top 100 Hospital in Maryland or the District of Columbia in 2006 is very special for our board, physicians and staff who work so hard to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.”
“I cannot express how proud I am that BWMC has been recognized as one of the top hospitals in the country,” said President and CEO James Walker. “This award is proof of the dedication our physicians and staff have to the community. This national recognition is well deserved.”
Baltimore Washington Medical Center is part of the University of Maryland Medical System. It currently has 286 beds and more than 2,400 employees. More than 600 physicians have privileges here. In the past year, the medical center cared for more than 172,000 patients on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.
In 2006, BWMC embarked on the largest expansion project in the organization’s history. The $117 million building project includes a new patient tower, a new women’s health center and an expanded Emergency Department.
Research Study Highlights
When compared with its national peers, a 100 Top Hospitals(R) national winner ranks at or above the top 90 percent on hospital-wide performance. To win, BWMC was scored on nine performance measures. Considered together, these nine measures represent how well the hospital performed overall, not merely for one specific disease or surgical procedure.
Winning hospitals, such as BWMC, have adopted a team approach — including its board, management, doctors, nurses and hospital employees — to constantly measure performance in many areas of the hospital to make it a better place for patients to be treated. Research has shown that hospital-wide teamwork produces a greater likelihood of a better outcome, higher satisfaction and more reasonable cost.
Other key findings of the study which ranked BWMC among the Top 100 Hospitals include:
-- If all hospitals performed like the benchmark hospitals, more than 100,000 additional patients could survive each year, and an additional 114,000 could avoid complications. -- With 25 percent higher admissions per bed, benchmark hospitals treated more patients than non-winning hospitals and also treated patients who were sicker and required more complex treatment. -- The 100 Top Hospitals facilities spent an average of 12 percent less, per discharge, than peer hospitals.
The “14th edition of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success” study uses a balanced scorecard approach and scores hospitals according to nine key organization-wide measures: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, patient safety, core measures average, growth in patient volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, expense per adjusted discharge, profit from operations and cash to debt ratio.
The 2006 Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success study appears in the March 12 edition of “Modern Healthcare” magazine.
More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at http://www.100tophospitals.com/. Copies of the 100 Top Hospitals report can be purchased by calling Solucient at 800.568.3282 or logging on to http://www.100tophospitals.com/.
Baltimore Washington Medical Center
CONTACT: Mary Lanham of Baltimore Washington Medical Center,+1-410-787-4925, [email protected]; or David Wilkins of Solucient,+1-734-913-3397, [email protected]
Web site: http://www.bwmc.umms.org/http://www.100tophospitals.com/
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