West Penn Allegheny Health System Named One of Nation’s Leaders in Patient Care Quality

West Penn Allegheny Health System has—for the second year—been named one of the country’s top performing health care systems based on patient care quality and efficiency. 

The analysis, conducted by Thompson Reuters and published in this week’s Modern Healthcare Magazine, places WPAHS among the 57 best U.S. health care systems.  West Penn Allegheny is the only healthcare provider in western Pennsylvania and one of just four in the state to earn the distinction.

The third annual 100 Top Hospitals: Health Systems Benchmarks study by Thompson Reuters evaluated 285 health care systems across the country, composing 1,944 hospitals and representing 6.6 million Medicare and Medicaid discharges.  Health care systems with at least two general, acute care hospitals were included in the analysis. 

West Penn Allegheny is composed of five acute-care hospitals in the greater Pittsburgh region, including Allegheny General Hospital, Allegheny Valley Hospital, , Forbes Regional Hospital and The Western Pennsylvania Hospital.

To conduct its most recent analysis of health system quality, Thompson Reuters incorporated clinical outcomes information from the 2008 and 2009 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data set as well as from the 2010 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare report.

Health systems were appraised by Thompson Reuters on eight measures of clinical quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. Those earning a position in the top quintile of the analysis demonstrated superior outcomes in all measures with scores reflecting aggregated data across an entire health care system.

Among the study’s conclusions, top performing health care systems had a 34 percent lower patient mortality, 25 percent fewer complications and 29 percent fewer patient safety incidents than systems in the bottom quintile of the study. 

Additionally, top-performing systems demonstrated better core measure patient compliance, had fewer mortalities and readmissions after 30 days, shorter patient length of stays and a higher hospital rating among patients.

“We are extremely gratified to again be recognized by one of the country’s most respected health care industry analysts, Thompson Reuters, as western Pennsylvania’s highest quality patient care provider," WPAHS President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Christopher T. Olivia said. "This award reflects a consistency of patient care excellence that defines this organization and the outstanding people who work here."

Thompson Reuters complete analysis can be found online here .