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Weekly UpdatesHEALTHGRADES, THE nation's leading independent provider of health-care ratings, recently announced its Excellence Awards for 2009. Quite a few Indiana hospitals made it into the top tier, which represents the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide in each specialty area.
Earlier this year Community Hospital in Munster was named to HealthGrades "America's 50 Best Hospitals" list, putting it in the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide. The rating was based on superior clinical performance across 27 different medical procedures and diagnoses over an eight-year period. Community Hospital in Munster is the only Indiana hospital to achieve this national ranking.
"Northwest Indiana should take great pride in Community Hospital being named to America's 50 Best Hospitals," says Donald Fesko, Administrator of Community Hospital. "This record of outstanding care is a real credit to the hard work and dedication of the community that built this hospital, and of the doctors, hospital staff and volunteers who have hard-wired excellence into everything they do."
Here is a partial list of Indiana's top ranked hospitals for 2009 by specialty and a look at how they achieve excellence.
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Critical Care. Three Indiana hospitals made the top tier in the area of critical care for 2009: Clarian Health Partners (including Indiana University Medical Center) in Indianapolis, Community Hospital in Munster and St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital.
"Indiana University Hospital and Methodist Hospital have had a long tradition of providing critical care to the sickest of the sick in the state of Indiana," says Dr. Michael Niemeier, medical director for the Adult Critical Care Unit at Methodist, part of Clarian. "But more than tradition, this is something we are wired to do."
Clarian has approximately 200 critical care beds in its downtown campuses, and specialists in areas such as intensive care medicine, trauma surgery, anesthesiology and radiology at the hospitals 24/7.
"We are unique in that sort of service," Niemeier says. "And we continue to try to improve those services by bringing on new facilities and new equipment."
One example of the latest technology is ePartners--a virtual intensive care unit (ICU) or command center staffed round the clock by highly experienced critical care nurses and physicians. The system, one of only two in the state, actively monitors patients at both the downtown and suburban hospitals (Clarian North and Clarian West).
"Being rated as a top performer in critical care by HealthGrades is a very positive reminder that reinforces that we are doing the right thing," says Jo Ann Brooks, vice president of Quality for Clarian Health Partners. "But it is just what we do every day."
Gastrointestinal Care and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Community Hospital in Munster, Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services in New Albany and St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital were cited for excellence in the area of gastrointestinal care for 2008.
"We are very dedicated to digestive health and developing a center of excellence around digestive diseases," says Rex McKinney, executive director of Clinical Services at St. Vincent Indianapolis. "About three years ago we created a Digestive Health Center within the hospital, dedicated to digestive health, digestive diseases and gastrointestinal care. We staffed it with a multidisciplinary group of physicians focused on GI. The collaborative approach to clinical care is really the key to our success."
Also factoring into the equation are board-certified physicians and surgeons supported by an excellent nursing component and other support staff, participation in research and research activities and the latest technology.
McKinney also notes a strong emphasis on patient safety under the leadership of Medical Staff President Dr. Bob Robison and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dan LeGrand. "They are very focused on patient safety and having high quality outcomes here at St. Vincent. The HealthGrades award is simply a validation of the path we want to be on. We'll keep striving to be excellent and continue to be in the top tier of providers for GI medical treatment."
Community Hospital in Munster and Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services were also cited for excellence in the area of gastrointestinal surgery.
"This award shows that the hospital is well taken care of in this area," says Dr. Julie Hutchinson, a surgeon who works at Floyd Memorial. "It's good to be able to demonstrate to patients that all aspects of a disease can be cared for at that institution. We have a very good comprehensive approach. The physicians who work in those areas work well together, communicate well together and care for patients in a very expedient fashion."
Over the past two years Floyd Memorial has begun performing its own reflux assessments on a more regular basis and has started utilizing less-invasive laproscopic procedures for some colon sections and reflux hiatal hernia repairs. With less-invasive procedures patients often experience less pain, reduced hospital stay and faster recovery.
"We are coming to the point now where we are able to decrease the prevalence of disease by doing screening and becoming better at screening people," Hutchinson says.
Cardiac Care, Coronary Intervention & Cardiac Surgery. St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana was the only Indiana hospital to attain the excellence ranking in the areas of cardiac care and coronary intervention and one of only two to attain it in the area of cardiac surgery--Clarian Health Partners (including Indiana University Medical Center) in Indianapolis was also honored for cardiac surgery.
St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana has been recognized as providing excellent cardiac care by HealthGrades for four years in a row now. "We tend to value our HealthGrades awards a bit more than others just because HealthGrades has been measured by multiple entities such as Price Waterhouse Coopers and rated one of the most accurate when it comes to truly measuring quality of care," says John Stewart, CEO. "Ultimately the consumer is now starting to get access to information to make better, informed decisions about their care."
Four years ago the hospital established nine physician-led multi-disciplinary process improvement teams, which Stewart credits for the Center's excellent results.
"The process is data driven and the decisions are made on evidence-based medicine," Stewart says. "A lot of people think my answer should be sexier than it is, but it is really just physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other individuals sitting around the table and looking at where we are today and what we need to do to improve certain areas. It's a never-ending process that requires a culture of quality, safety and teamwork. Those three components are huge drivers in our overall culture. It doesn't happen easily It has to be built from the ground up. But once you start to accomplish certain successful outcomes, success breeds success. The more people you get involved, you start to develop a certain amount of synergy that starts to drive itself from there."
Joint Replacement and Orthopedic Care. When it comes to joint replacement, 10 Indiana hospitals ranked in the top tier for excellence: Community Hospital in Munster, Elkhart General Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital in Indianapolis, St. Francis Hospital-Beech Grove, St. Francis Hospital-Moorseville, Saint John's Health System in Anderson, Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in South Bend, St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville and St. Vincent Carmel Hospital.
St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville has been ranked best in Indiana for joint replacement surgery for the third year in a row.
"It is an honor that solidifies and emphasizes in our minds ... that what we are doing here is in the best interests of patient care," says Dr. John B. Meding, orthopedic surgeon, president of St. Francis Hospital Mooresville's medical staff and managing partner of the hospital-affiliated Center for Hip and Knee Surgery "It is a good thing when someone from the outside does an independent evaluation and reaches that conclusion."
Meding doesn't want to minimize the importance of a state-of-the-art facility, but he says it's just one of several factors that contribute to the recognition.
"To get there requires a good deal of communication and a good working relationship with all parties involved--therapists, pharmacy, administration, nursing, internal medicine doctors, orthopedic doctors and all the support services right down to housekeeping," he says. "One thing we have done consistently over the years is keep the lines of communication open."
St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville offers patients state-of-art surgery using less-invasive techniques and the latest implants. It also uses ultraviolet light during the operation itself to lower the risk of infection and other complications.
"For more than 20 years we have documented long-term implant success in more than 20,000 patients," Meding says. "We are committed to providing compassionate care and the highest quality services available for total joint replacement patients."
Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital, also made the HealthGrades list for 2009. "We've always maintained that our hospital supplies our patients with the highest quality care because the physicians are involved in every aspect of that patient's treatment," says Jane Keller, CEO. "Having this award two years in a row backs that claim up."
In 2008 Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital performed approximately 2,000 total joint procedures.
"The more [procedures] you do, the better you get, and you produce a higher quality result," Keller says. "The hospital is focused on raising the bar in orthopedic care. I think we will find in the next few years that people are going to look to the center of excellence facilities, the facilities that do these cases at a higher volume, because they are going to be the experts."
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