For the second year in a row and seventh time overall, Scripps Health has been named one of the top five medium-sized health systems in the nation by PINC AI and the only health care provider in California to be included among a broader list covering the top 15 large, medium and small systems across the United States.
Scripps was ranked No. 1 in the medium health system category, tying with HCA Mountain Division for the top spot.
This year’s top 15 health systems were chosen from among 361 health systems that were evaluated for clinical, operational, financial and patient experience measures, providing an objective measure of overall health system performance and insight into the ability of the best performing health system hospitals to deliver consistent top results across the communities they serve. Health systems do not apply for this annual listing, and winners do not pay to market the honor.
The winners were announced in the online edition of Fortune magazine.
“By once again naming Scripps Health as one of the top health systems in the nation, PINC AI is recognizing the high level of care that patients receive when they come to us,” said Scripps President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “This isn’t something we applied for — we were chosen for this prestigious honor. And that selection was the direct result of our physicians, nurses and employees who constantly work to ensure that the care we deliver to patients is the best possible.”
Ghazala Sharieff, MD, MBA, Scripps corporate senior vice president, chief medical and operations officer, acute care, noted that the honor comes during a time when all health systems are facing a wide array of challenges. “Receiving this honor for a second year in a row and being the only health system recognized in San Diego County and the entire state of California reinforces our commitment to using data-driven innovative ideas to care for our patients.”
PINC AI is a health care technology and services platform owned by Premier Inc. that uses hospital data to help health systems improve patient outcomes and financial performance. The annual 15 Top Health Systems list was acquired earlier this year by Premier from Merative, which was formerly known as IBM Watson Health. Prior to 2018, the listing was produced by Truven Health Analytics.
PINC AI evaluated data for 2,696 hospitals that came from Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data and data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare website.
Hospitals included among the 15 best systems achieved better patient outcomes, fewer complications, shorter lengths of stay, lower readmission rates, fewer health care-associated infections and higher experience ratings from patients.
Based on the research, the care delivered by the 15 best systems resulted in: