The following is a release from EvergreenHealth:

Truven Health AnalyticsTM has named EvergreenHealth one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals in the “Large Community Hospitals” category for the second straight year. The Kirkland-based health system is the only hospital in Washington state to receive the honor this year, earning the recognition for its ability to provide high-quality care while simultaneously achieving value for patients and operational efficiency.

Truven Health Analytics, a leading provider of healthcare data and analytics solutions services, identifies the 100 top U.S. hospitals based on their overall organizational performance each year. EvergreenHealth was recognized for critical performance measures like its low 30-day mortality and readmission rates, customer perception of care, lengths of stay and more.

“Our organization’s vision to be ‘the most trusted source for health care solutions’ and earning this recognition for the second consecutive year is validation of our ongoing dedication to realizing this vision by providing the highest standards of clinical care and service, absolute patient safety and the best value,” said EvergreenHealth CEO Bob Malte. “Every provider, employee and volunteer works together to exceed the high standards we set for ourselves and we’re honored to be recognized for those efforts by one of our industry’s most trusted data-driven resources.”

In celebration of earning this honor again, EvergreenHealth created a unique tribute video to its employees, which can be viewed here.

The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals is the most comprehensive, academically driven study of its kind, compiled with data from nearly 3,000 hospitals across the country analyzed from 2011 through 2015. This time period coincides with the hospital industry’s initial adoption of value-based care. The national improvement in quality metrics, concurrent with curbed growth in expense, may be a harbinger of future trends as more hospitals shift away from fee-for-service payment models.

“The hospital industry’s ongoing transition from fee-for-service to value-based care appears to be bearing some positive results for both patients and payers,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Truven Health Analytics. “The magnitude of improvement we’ve observed over the last five years is greater than any other five-year period we’ve tracked. On top of that, this year’s winners have reached new highs in performance in comparison to peers across the country, which suggests that improvement in value from hospitals is likely to continue.”

EvergreenHealth and other 100 Top Hospitals award winners excelled in the following areas when compared to their peers:

Significantly Improved 30-Day Readmission Rates: One of the most closely watched quality metrics, 30-day readmission rates, has shown significant improvement in 52 percent of U.S. hospitals over the last five years. That rate has remained flat in 48 percent of hospitals and worsened in just 0.1 percent of hospitals.

Significantly Improved Mortality Index: The risk-adjusted mortality showed significant improvement in 21 percent of U.S. hospitals over the study period, remained steady in 79 percent of hospitals, while only 0.1 percent of hospitals saw an increase in mortality.

Shorter Average Length of Stay: The severity-adjusted average length of stay improved in 18 percent of U.S. hospitals over the same period. That rate held steady in 76 percent of hospitals and worsened in 6 percent of hospitals.

Flat Inpatient Expenses: The average cost of treating an inpatient over the five-year study period improved in two percent of U.S. hospitals, held flat in 79 percent of hospitals, and worsened in 19 percent of hospitals.

Based on the projections of the 2017 study, if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated at EvergreenHealth and other award-winning facilities:

Nearly 89,000 additional lives could be saved

Over 61,000 additional patients could be complication-free

Over $5.6 billion in inpatient costs could be saved

The average patient stay would decrease by half a day

Over 300,000 fewer discharged patients would be readmitted within 30 days

Patients would spend nine minutes less in hospital emergency departments per visit

If the same standards were applied to all inpatient care, the impact would be even greater.

The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals evaluates clinical and operational performance in 11 areas, addressing: inpatient mortality; 30-day mortality rate; complications; core measures; 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rate; severity-adjusted average length of stay; mean emergency room throughput; inpatient expense per discharge; Medicare spend per beneficiary; adjusted operating profit margin; and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score (patient rating of overall hospital performance). The study has been conducted annually since 1993.

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Truven Health researchers evaluated 2,740 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals. They used public information — Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not apply for awards, and winners do not pay to market this honor.

For more information on the Truven 100 Top Hospitals study, visit www.100tophospitals.com.

To learn more about EvergreenHealth, visit www.evergreenhealth.com or call 425.899.3000.