University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), a national organization comprised of most of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, has ranked Emory University Hospital (which includes Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital) eighth in the nation in the 2014 UHC Quality Leadership Awards. This is the fourth consecutive year that Emory University Hospital has ranked in the top 10 for demonstrating superior performance in delivering high-quality care and safety excellence.
Emory University Hospital Midtown, which is Emory Healthcare’s second academic and eligible hospital, ranked in the top quartile as 22nd nationally.
The Quality Leadership Award honors top performers in UHC’s Quality and Accountability Study, which ranks performance in the areas of: mortality, effectiveness, safety, equity, patient centeredness and efficiency. These rankings are the most rigorous in health care and look at how major teaching hospitals are doing in multiple dimensions of quality and safety. They are traditionally looked upon as providing the best, most non-biased national quality measurement system available for teaching hospitals.
Since 2006, we have been on a journey to have our two academic hospitals – Emory University Hospital and Emory University Hospital Midtown – rank highly by the UHC. In 2012, we met our goal as Emory University Hospital ranked number two and Emory University Hospital Midtown ranked number six. We have made outstanding progress, and ranked 2nd and 3rd last year. “We are proud of our successes, as our number one priority at Emory Healthcare is to provide safe, high-quality care for our patients,” said John Fox, president and CEO of Emory Healthcare.
A top ranking by UHC means more than just great care. Since UHC ranks only academic medical centers that typically treat America’s sickest, most complex patient cases, and a disproportionate number of patients who are uninsured, underinsured or indigent, ranking highly on the list of the 101 participants reflects the ultimate assessment of organizational performance in setting the standard in quality and safety.
