March 30, 2010 -- For the second year, Missouri Baptist is named one of the country’s Top 100 Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, in its annual study identifying the 100 top U.S. hospitals based on excellence in clinical outcomes, patient safety, patient satisfaction, financial performance, and operational efficiency.

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals® National Benchmarks study evaluated 2,926 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals in 10 areas: mortality, medical complications, patient safety, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, and post-discharge mortality and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia. The study has been conducted annually since 1993. (http://www.100tophospitals.com/reports/index.html)

“The 100 Top Hospitals winners raised the bar again this year, delivering a higher level of reliable care and greater value for their communities,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters.

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Thomson Reuters researchers used public information — Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare data set.

If According to the Thomson Reuters report, “if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as patients treated in the winning hospitals: 

• More than 98,000 additional patients would survive each year
• More than 197,000 patient complications would be avoided annually
• Expenses would decline by an aggregate $5.5 billion a year
• The average patient stay would decrease by nearly half a day

Missouri Baptist Medical Center is one of four hospitals in Missouri to receive this honor, with three of them being BJC HealthCare hospitals (Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Peters and Boone Hospital Center in Columbia).  In addition, Northeast Regional Medical Center was cited.