Hospital named to top 100
Ransom Memorial Hospital ranked 27th in list of nation’s best
By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer
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Ransom Memorial Hospital has been listed by a group as one of the nation’s top 100 hospitals.
Data Advantage’s Hospital Value Index rated RMH as 27th in its index of the top 100 hospitals.
“Given the federal government’s new Value-Based Purchasing initiative, it is essential for hospital leaders to look beyond quality and outcomes to define their value to the community,” Hal Andrews, Data Advantage chief executive office, said.
The scorecard was developed a year ahead of a new federal scorecard by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The new federal grading system is the Value-Based Purchasing initiative, which proposes to financially reward a hospital based on the value of its care beginning next year, he said.
“CMS has proposed rewarding both excellent performance and also improvements from a baseline score. With the Hospital Value Index, hospitals will have an all-encompassing score to understand where they excel and where they can improve,” Andrews said. “... Where the quality of care between hospitals is relatively equal, the Hospital Value Index will identify the hospital that is more affordable.
“Where the price between hospitals is the same, the Hospital Value Index will reveal the one with better quality.”
The index looked at more than 1,500 general acute-care hospitals in quality of their care and patient safety, the charges for their care, and patients’ satisfaction.
“In an environment in which consumers — including patients, and employers — shoulder an increasing burden of the cost of health care, it is important to recognize those hospitals that deliver outstanding value,” John R. Morrow, a founder of “100 Top Hospitals: Benchmarks for Success,” and a senior advisor to Data Advantage, said. “These consumers increasingly want a score that considers everything we publicly know — and they care about — when choosing a hospital.”
Ransom Memorial Hospital was the only hospital in Kansas or the Kansas City metro area to be in the Top 100 Hospitals index.
“The credit for this score of high quality of care and safety, operating efficiency and high patient satisfaction belongs to our hospital staff, physicians and volunteers,” Larry Felix, RMH chief executive officer, said. “Our hospital has now been deemed among the best hospitals in our country by three independent organizations in four published reports over the past five years.”
That, along with the hospital’s Joint Commission Accreditation, shows that RMH doesn’t have to be a large hospital to be among the best of the best, Felix said.
“I could not be more proud of our staff and the high quality of care they give day in and day out,” he said.
In addition to being listed among the Top 100 hospitals, Ransom Memorial Hospital was also listed as one of the Hospital Value Index’s 100 Best Kept Secrets. This report names hospitals that offer high value care but may not be as well known as other hospitals in their market.
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