U.S. News & World Report names two area hospitals to 2011-12 rankings

St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital and University of Mississippi Health Care (UMHC) were ranked Jackson’s best in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2011-12 Best Hospitals rankings.

The 22^nd annual rankings recognized St. Dominic’s as high performing in three specialties—diabetes and endocrinology, neurology and neurosurgery, and urology—and also acknowledged the 523-bed hospital as a most “Connected Hospital” for its incorporation of electronic medical records in providing quality care. The 581-bed UMHC was ranked high performing in three different areas: cancer, nephrology and orthopedics.

Robert Mobley, MD, executive vice president of medical affairs and quality for St. Dominic’s, said hospital leaders are very happy to be recognized in three specialties yet “we feel that we’re high performing in more than three areas, such as cardiology.”

“The agenda we set internally at St. Dominic’s for quality and safety … center on our main focal service areas like surgical services,” he said. “We don’t just focus on certain specialties.”

Mobley took over the position in October 2006, after his predecessor, Tom Herrin, MD, laid the groundwork for the role. Soon after, Mobley expanded the position to focus on quality and safety measures and U.S. News has recognized St. Dominic’s on a regular basis.

UMHC CEO David Putt said since the organization created the role of chief medical officer two years ago and hired Bill Cleland, MD, for the position, the hospital has popped up on various prestigious national lists.

“Bill plays an extremely critical role in our organization, as CMOs do in every organization,” said Putt. “His role is to get out there and help us talk to physicians about quality and safety initiatives and drive home those improvements we need. We always try to tell our faculty we can’t just look on the dock today. We have to look at where we came from. Each quarter, we’re moving up. So is everybody else. We’ve got to continue … we might be at the 95^th percentile now, but how do we get from 95 to 100? The CMO has been so instrumental moving those scores up, even in just two years.”

Putt said it was first time UMHC has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as high-performing.

“It’s a very prestigious award for us,” said Putt. “It’s an amazing time to be involved in the quality and safety of healthcare today. It’s always mattered, but it matters more today. Being recognized by U.S. News is one of our strategic goals as well as being one of the top 25 academic medical centers in the United States.”

Receiving these accolades is important, said Putt.

“With value-based purchasing today, everyone is working hard on quality measures,” he said. “Every CEO is looking at it in a more stringent light than ever before because that’s how we’re going to be paid. It’s also an extremely critical time to be sure all our patients understand they come first.”

The U.S. News recognition, Putt said, “is something each and every one of us at this institution can be proud of.”

Editor’s Note: Next month, Mississippi Medical News will focus on recently released Joint Commission rankings.

Related Story

Health Rankings Defined

The core mission of US News & World Report’s Best Hospitals is to help guide patients who need an especially high level of care because of a difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age. The national rankings cover 16 medical specialties and all 94 metro areas that have at least a half million residents and at least one hospital that performed well enough to be ranked.

Regional rankings are aimed primarily at consumers whose care may not demand the special expertise found only at a nationally ranked Best Hospital or who may not be willing or able to travel long distances for medical care.

“These are referral centers where other hospitals send their sickest patients,” said Avery Comarow, U.S. News health rankings editor. “Hospitals like these are ones you or those close to you should consider when the stakes are high.”

The U.S. News metro rankings give many patients and their families more options of hospitals within their community and in their health insurance network, said Comarow.

“These are hospitals we call ‘high performers.’ They’re fully capable of giving most patients first-rate care, even if they have serious conditions or need demanding procedures,” Comarow said. “Almost every major metro area has at least one of these hospitals.”

Hard numbers stand behind the rankings in most specialties—death rates, patient safety, procedure volume, and other objective data. Responses to a national survey, in which physicians were asked to name hospitals they consider best in their specialty for the toughest cases, also were factored in.

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