St. Luke’s University Health Network has, for the third year in a row, been ranked one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics, part of IBM Watson Health, in the Major Teaching Hospital category. Other winning health care leaders in that category for 2017 include Emory University Hospital, OhioHealth Doctor’s Hospital and University of Colorado Hospital.

This is the sixth time St. Luke’s has been named among the Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals.

“This award is solely based on clinical outcomes, efficiencies of care and financial performance unlike other awards such as US News,” Rick Anderson, St. Luke’s president and CEO, said.

“The Truven 100 Top Hospitals award judges an organization’s ability to thrive regardless of the constantly changing environment of today’s health care industry, and national imperatives that continue to demand the highest value of care. That means St. Luke’s provides the highest quality of care at lower cost,” Anderson said.

The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals study identifies hospitals and leadership teams that provide the highest level of value to their communities, based on a national balanced scorecard.

“The hospital industry’s ongoing transition from fee-for-service to value-based care appears to be bearing some positive results for both patients and payers,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Truven Health Analytics. “The magnitude of improvement we’ve observed over the last five years is greater than any other five-year period we’ve tracked. On top of that, this year’s winners have reached new highs in performance in comparison to peers across the country, which suggests that improvement in value from hospitals is likely to continue.”

Truven’s process is said to be the most comprehensive, academically-driven study of its kind. It evaluates clinical and operational performance in 11 areas, addressing: inpatient mortality; 30-day mortality rate; complications; core measures; 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rate; severity-adjusted average length of stay; mean emergency room throughput; inpatient expense per discharge; Medicare spend per beneficiary; adjusted operating profit margin; and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score (patient rating of overall hospital performance).

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Truven Health researchers evaluated 2,740 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals. They 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 & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not apply for these awards, and winners do not pay to market this honor.

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated and nationally recognized network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites. The network’s service area includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County in New Jersey.

St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 22 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital, the only one in the region. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first Medical School. Repeatedly, including 2016, St. Luke’s has earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation as well as 50 Top Cardiovascular program in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers in comparison to major teaching hospitals and other health systems.