Becker's Hospital Review

80 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Here are IBM Watson Health's top 15 health systems By Julie Spitzer I BM Watson Health released its 15 Top Health Systems annual study April 22, which highlights the top-performing health systems in the U.S. based on their overall organizational performance. Formerly known as the Truven Health Ana- lytics 15 Top Health Systems, the report es- tablishes a quantitative measure of its mem- ber health systems' clinical and operational performance across each of their hospitals. is year's report evaluated 338 health sys- tems and 2,422 health system member hos- pitals across nine clinical and operational performance benchmarks. All research was based on publicly available data sets. e key performance metrics that showed the most significant outperformance compared to nonwinning peer group health systems include: • Fewer in-hospital deaths (14.6 percent) • Fewer complications and infections (17.3 percent and 16.2 percent, respec- tively) • Shorter length of stay (0.4 days shorter) • Shorter emergency department wait times (40 minutes shorter per patient) • Lower spend (5.6 percent lower costs per episode, which includes combined in-hospital and post-discharge costs) • Higher patient satisfaction, as measured by HCAHPS (2.3 percent higher) Here are IBM Watson Health's top 15 health systems. Large Health Systems 1. Mayo Foundation (Rochester, Minn.) 2. Mercy (Chesterfield, Mo.) 3. Sentara Healthcare (Norfolk, Va.) 4. St. Luke's Health System (Boise, Idaho) 5. UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.) Medium Health Systems 1. Aspirus Network (Wausau, Wis.) 2. HealthPartners (Bloomington, Minn.) 3. Mercy Health-Cincinnati 4. Mission Health (Asheville, N.C.) 5. TriHealth (Cincinnati) Small Health Systems 1. Asante (Medford, Ore.) 2. CHI St. Joseph Health (Bryan, Texas) 3. Maury Regional Health (Columbia, Tenn.) 4. Roper St. Francis Healthcare (Charles- ton, S.C.) 5. UPMC Susquehanna Health System (Williamsport, Penn.) n Police investigate nurse accused of infecting patients with hepatitis C at Washington hospital; up 2.6k patients urged to undergo testing By Megan Knowles A nurse at Puyallup, Wash.-based MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital may have infected two patients with hepatitis C, and the hospital is suggesting 2,600 patients who were treated during an eight-month period in 2017 and 2018 receive testing for the infection, according to The News Tribune. The nurse, whose identity was not disclosed, no longer works for MultiCare. Patients who were treated in the hos- pital's emergency room between Aug. 4, 2017, and March 23, 2018, and received injections of drugs, antihistamine or sedatives are eligible for free hepatitis C testing as well as testing for communicable diseases. Local and state officials investigated the incident and re- vealed the former MultiCare nurse "was removing high- er-than-normal amounts of narcotics from our dispensing system and admitted to diverting medications intended for patients," according to a statement from MultiCare ob- tained by The News Tribune. Although the hospital did not find evidence the nurse in- fected the patients, the nurse tested positive for hepatitis C and treated two patients at the hospital in December 2017 who were not at risk for the disease but tested posi- tive for it after the nurse treated them, according to a Mul- tiCare spokesperson. Good Samaritan notified 2,600 patients about the possi- bility of being exposed to hepatitis C during treatment in the ER, which the hospital noted was less than 5 percent of the 54,000 patients treated in the ER during the eight- month period. If patients did not receive notification let- ters, they are not at risk for the infection. "We deeply value the trust of our community, and apologize for the worry this will create. We have taken extensive measures to identify anyone who may have been at risk for exposure, out of interest for the health and safety of our patients and the community," Chris Bredeson, president and COO of Good Samaritan, said in a statement. "We remain committed to the highest standards of patient care and are working to make sure the affected patients are supported and have the infor- mation they need." n

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