New York Hospital Queens Named 100 Top Hospital Performance Improvement Leader

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Flushing, New York - New York Hospital Queens has been selected as one of the top 100 performance improvement leaders among major teaching hospitals in the United States.

New York Hospital Queens received the award as one of 100 hospitals that have demonstrated the greatest progress in improving hospital-wide performance over five consecutive years (2001-2005).  The study to benchmark the best performers is managed by Thomson Healthcare, a healthcare information company that studies outcomes data and trends over time.  The company shares the data so that all hospitals can use it to improve their own performance. The 2006 study used publicly available Medicare cost reports, and CMS outpatient and outcomes data compiled from 2001 – 2005.

“Today, more than ever, the patients we serve can be confident that they do not have to travel to receive world class health care services. Being the only medical institution in Queens to be named as a national performance improvement leader and receiving this recognition under the criteria applied to a major teaching hospital is quite an achievement,” said Stephen S. Mills, President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Hospital Queens. “This designation showcases the results of our ongoing commitment to providing the expertise patients can trust and delivering the service that they deserve – close to home,” he added.

The Thomson 100 Top Hospitals® Performance Improvement Leaders study sets national benchmarks for the rate and consistency of improvement in clinical outcomes, safety, hospital efficiency, financial stability and growth. The study reviews all U.S. hospitals licensed to treat Medicare patients. Eight performance measures are examined at each hospital: risk-adjusted mortality and complications, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, growth in patient volume, and risk-adjusted patient safety index.

New York Hospital Queens was selected as a result of the following gains over the course of the study:

1. Decreased patient deaths, complications, and adverse safety events
2. Expanded outpatient services more quickly and consistently than peer institutions
3. Decreased patients length of stay by nearly a day, despite an increase in treating more patients (this also provides a financial benefit to patients)

New York Hospital Queens is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and is an affiliate of Weill Medical College of Cornell University.