News & Events

September 30th, 2009

For the third consecutive year, Rush University Medical Center has been ranked among the five top performing academic medical centers in the country in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Quality and Accountability Study. Only one other medical center besides Rush has ranked in the study’s top five annually since 2007, and Rush is one of only two medical centers to rank among the top ten every year since the study’s inception in 2005.

The 2009 study evaluated 93 academic medical centers on the basis of mortality, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity of care, and patient centeredness. For the fifth year in a row, Rush attained a perfect score in the equity of care category, which measures whether patient outcomes differ due to gender, race or socioeconomic status. The study examined data provided by member hospitals through its comparative Clinical, Operational, and Core Measures Data Bases and reviewed additional source data from the publicly reported Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey.

The results of the study were announced Oct.1 at the 9th Annual UHC Quality and Safety Fall Forum in Atlanta. Based in Oakbrook, IL, the UHC is an alliance of 103 academic medical centers and 219 member-affiliated hospitals that helps its members to improve clinical, financial and operational performance.

Unlike other reviews of hospitals that take reputation into account, the UHC study is based entirely on official data related to patient outcomes. The purpose of the annual study, according to the UHC, is to determine what structures and practices contribute to high levels of quality and safety across a wide variety of patient populations at academic medical centers.

“It is very satisfying to know that the UHC study has found that Rush has maintained consistently high levels of care and that we extend that same level of care to all our patients regardless of their backgrounds,” says Dr. Larry J. Goodman, Rush president and CEO. “These results are a tribute to the skill of everyone who works at Rush and their dedication to providing the best possible care.”

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