Sarasota Memorial named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics

Study identifies hospitals and leadership teams ‘that provide the highest level of value to their communities’

Sarasota Memorial opened its courtyard tower in 2013. File photo
Sarasota Memorial opened its courtyard tower in 2013. File photo

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System has been named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics.

“The 2016 100 Top Hospitals award winners represent the highest national standards in hospital care and management.

They set the benchmarks for peers around the country to follow,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Truven Health Analytics, in a news release. “Hospitals in three out of the five report groups actually reduced overall expense year-over-year, while improving patient outcomes — exactly the results that the entire industry hopes to attain,” she added in the release.

The study shows that if all hospitals in the U.S. performed at the level of this year’s winners, the following would have been achieved, the release continues:

  • More than 104,000 additional lives could be saved.
  • Nearly 48,400 additional patients could be complication-free.
  • $2 billion in inpatient costs could have been saved.
  • The average patient stay would have decreased by half a day.

Sarasota Memorial CEO David Verinder credited the hospital’s achievement to its doctors, caregivers and staff “and the vision and support of the publicly elected Sarasota County Public Hospital Board,” the release notes.

“As the region’s only community-owned hospital, we are committed to putting our patients’ needs first and setting the bar higher for quality care,” said Verinder in the release. “This award is a reflection of our mission and commitment to our community.”

The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals® study identifies hospitals and leadership teams that provide the highest level of value to their communities, based on a national scorecard measuring overall organizational performance across 11 key analytic measures, including patient care, operational efficiency and financial stability, the release explains. The study has been conducted annually since 1993. This is the third time Truven has recognized Sarasota Memorial with this honor, the release points out.

U.S. News & World Report and HealthGrades, two other hospital rating organizations often have recognized Sarasota Memorial as one the nation’s best hospitals for multiple specialties by, the release notes.

“To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Truven Health researchers evaluated close to 3,000 short-term, acute-care, nonfederal hospitals,” the release adds. The researchers for the 100 Top Hospitals list “use risk-adjusted methodologies to analyze public information — Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) data and patient satisfaction data, the release says. Hospitals do not apply, and winners do not pay to market the honor, the release points out.

The winning hospitals were announced in the Feb. 28 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at 100tophospitals.com.