Memorial Hermann, Harris Health top-rated
Houston’s Memorial Hermann Hospital System and Harris Health System are best in class for clinical outcomes and addressing racial and income disparities in health care, according to a report released Tuesday.
Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center was named the top hospital in the region for its quality and value of care. Harris Health System, which includes Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals, ranked No. 1 nationwide for its “commitment to equity, inclusion and community health,” according to the Lown Institute, a Brookline, Mass.-based health policy think tank that prepared the index.
Medical centers are scored by patient outcomes, how well they avoided “low-value” medical procedures and technologies (those that provide little to no clinical help or incur unnecessary costs), and their commitment to equity and inclusion in health care. Researchers also examined pay equity and subsidized care to determine the rankings.
The data used came from Medicare claims, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Bureau of Labor Statistics information and other federal data that tracks costs, patient satisfaction and mortality rates.
The institute also ranked five additional Memorial Hermann
hospitals, the Brazosport Regional Health System, the Woman’s Hospital of Texas and Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital among the top 10 hospitals in the Houston area.
“As a system, our mission to improve health is always our main focus,” David Callender, Memorial Hermann’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Callender said the system’s employees are focused on “creating exceptional experiences while delivering safe, high-quality, cost-effective care that is coordinated and seamless across the care continuum.”
Despite the high praise, many hospitals in Houston, home to the world’s largest medical center complex, need to do more to address the socioeconomic issues and barriers to equitable healthcare, said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute.
“The main thing we found,” Saini said, “was there are a lot of renowned hospitals that may do very well with specific patient outcomes, but they struggle to advance equity within regions.”
Texas hospitals ranked highly on the national scale because of their emphasis on charity care, in which a hospital covers the costs of medical care for uninsured patients, Saini said. That’s in part because the state has a high rate of uninsured patients — nearly 1 in 5 Texans don’t have health insurance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
But medical systems still need to invest in community benefits that could reduce health care disparities, such as providing access to nutritious food and adequate housing, researchers said.
The rankings, Saini said, don’t determine which hospital might be best for a certain medical procedure. Instead, they show which hospitals treat patients equitably and safely and how they can improve service to their communities.
“From an aspirational perspective,” Callender said, “that means creating healthier communities by engaging with Houstonians beyond the hospital walls and giving them the tools and resources they need to lead healthier lives.”