Awards and Certifications From May 31

Spectrum Health Named a Top Ten Health System for Second Year: Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Health was named one of the nation's top 10 health systems Tuesday in an annual study analyzing clinical and financial performance. Spectrum Health was the only health system in Michigan to receive the "Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals: Health System Benchmarks" honor. In addition, Spectrum Health scored highest among the top 10 on one of the performance criteria, Medicare's Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems a patient satisfaction survey. Researchers from the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program analyzed the clinical quality and efficiency of 285 health systems. To be included in the study, systems had to have at least two acute-care hospitals with a minimum of 25 beds each. Researchers used public data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review dataset and the CMS Hospital Compare datasets. The top health systems were announced in Tuesday's edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. Thomson Reuters also released a list of the top 20 percent, totaling 57 systems. The 10 health systems rose to the top when researchers from the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program analyzed the performance of 285 health systems based on eight 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 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and the 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). Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which includes nine hospitals and 180 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 600 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 625,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan's largest employer with more than 17,800 employees. The organization provided $115.9 million in community benefit during its 2010 fiscal year. In 2011 and 2010, Spectrum Health was named a Top 10 Health System by Thomson Reuters.