Spectrum Health Ranked In Top 10 In Nation

We have a lot to be proud of here in West Michigan, not the least of which is our health care.

With four major hospitals, Spectrum Butterworth, Spectrum Blodgett, St. Mary's and Metro, along with cancer, heart and other care centers, you have to figure your opportunity to receive quality care is pretty good.  Then, there is the VanAndel Research Institute and Michigan State's medical school.

Well, the nation is watching and aware.

The Grand Rapids Press is reporting that Spectrum Health was named a top 10 health system for the second year in a row in a Thomson Reuters study, hospital officials announced Wednesday.

To be included in the study, health care systems must have at least two acute-care hospitals with at least 25 beds each. Researchers analyzed the clinical quality and safety performance of 285 health systems.

Spectrum was the only system in Michigan to be included in the top 10.

“Spectrum Health is honored to be recognized as one of the 10 best health systems in the country for the second consecutive year,” said Richard C. Breon, president and CEO of Spectrum Health. “This award is a significant recognition of the high quality care and excellent patient experience that our physicians and employees provide individuals and families every day.”

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program analyzed health systems based on the following metrics:

In-hospital mortality
Medical complications
Patient safety
Average length of stay
30-day mortality rate (post-discharge)
30-day readmission rate (post-discharge)
Adherence to clinical standards of care (evidence-based core measures published by CMS)
Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient survey score (part of a national initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals)