United Regional Honored In "100 Top Hospitals" List

United Regional is receiving a big honor, after years of diligent efforts to make improvements.

The hospital is now recognized as one of the top hospitals in the U.S. by Truven Health Analytics.

They use research and independent public data to create their Top 100 Hospitals list.

Measuring hospitals overall balanced excellence compared to other hospitals with similar facilities in terms of size and teaching status.
United Regional employees are rejoicing over some good news.

The hospital is now part of the "100 Top Hospitals," a study conducted by Truven Health Analytics which uses independent public data to recognize hospitals across the U.S.

"We publish these benchmarks nationally so that all five types of hospitals can target that new level of performance that's calculated each year and that helps the hospitals improve faster because they have a target to reach," said Jean Chenoweth, said Senior Vice President of Truven Health Analytics.

And now United Regional is one of those targets for other hospitals to aim for.

Something United Regional officials say validates recent efforts for improvement.

"We have centered our efforts around what we call our pillars of excellence: people, service, quality, finance and growth," said Phyllis Cowling, the President of United Regional.

Truven Health Analytics looks at ten different areas to study hospitals performance. They look at: mortality rates, medical complications, patient safety, average patient stay, expenses, profitability, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, post-discharge mortality and readmission rates for acute heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia.

And while the new title excites many within the hospital's walls, Truven Health Officials say the award should have the community just as excited.

"That hospital will continue to attract highly skilled labor to your community and higher paying jobs to your community which then supports your schools, your local businesses and makes the community better all around," Chenoweth said.

In addition to the "100 Top Hospital" honor United Regional also received the Everest award.

It means United Regional has also set national benchmarks for the fastest and most consistent long term improvements measured over the past 5 years. United Regional is one of only 16 hospitals nationally to receive this award.