University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center named top-performing hospital

University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center has been named one of America’s top-performing hospitals, by the 2020 Fortune/IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals list.

In addition to this recognition, UH Geauga also received the Everest award which is given to the organization with the highest level of five-year performance improvement among all of the 100 Top hospitals, according to a news release.

“I am incredibly proud of our UH Geauga team for these well-deserved recognitions,” said UH Geauga Medical Center President Dr. Donald Decarlo in the release. “This year, our team has shown resiliency amidst a global pandemic. They’ve not only successfully kept patients healthy, but kept our medical center standards and patient experience at a high level without missing a beat.”

Compared to similar hospitals, the 100 recognized hospitals had better results on performance indicators intended to measure clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience and financial health, the release stated.

These include survival rates, patient complications, health care-associated infections, 30-day mortality and 30-day hospital-wide readmission rates, length of stay, throughput in emergency rooms, inpatient expenses, profitability and ratings from patients.

Recognizing steady performance and hard-won successes of a variety of health care systems, and cutting through the “prestige bias” is the aim of the list, the release stated.

UH Geauga has been on the 100 Top Hospitals list for three years, and was recognized for high scores in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience as well as financial health.

Hospitals did not apply for these awards; rather, IBM Watson Health researchers evaluated 3,134 short-term, acute care, nonfederal U.S. hospitals, the release stated.