Prime Healthcare Hospitals Once Again Named Among the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Fortune/IBM Watson Health

• Awards recognize excellence in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience and financial health
• Prime Healthcare hospitals have ranked among our nation’s 100 Top Hospitals 58 times
• For the first time, annual rankings include measure of hospitals’ contribution to community health, focusing on equity
• Fortune/IBM Watson Health list identifies best practices to help healthcare organizations achieve consistent, balanced, and sustainable high performance

ONTARIO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Five Prime Healthcare hospitals have been named to the Fortune/IBM Watson Health^® 100 Top Hospitals list, which recognizes the top-performing hospitals in the nation. Three of the five hospitals honored this year also received an “Everest Award,” which recognizes hospitals that have earned the “100 Top Hospitals” designation and ranked among the top 100 hospitals in the nation for rate-of-improvement during a five-year period.

With this year’s recognition, Prime Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Foundation hospitals have ranked among the nation’s 100 top hospitals 58 times. This year’s annual ranking also introduces the measure of hospitals’ contributions to community health with a focus on equity.

Recipients of the 100 Top Hospital award in 2021 include:

• East Liverpool City Hospital in East Liverpool, Ohio, a four-time honoree and recipient of the Everest Award for three consecutive years (2018-2020)
• Mission Regional Medical Center in Mission, Texas, a two-time honoree and recipient of the Everest Award in 2020 and 2021
• Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, a two-time honoree and recipient of the Everest Award in 2020 and 2021
• Coshocton Regional Medical Center in Coshocton, Ohio, a first-time honoree
• Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Lehigh Acres, Florida, a first-time honoree and first-time recipient of the Everest Award

“The Prime Healthcare hospitals on this list demonstrate a relentless commitment to high value, patient-centered care, improving population health and advancing health equity for impacted communities,” said Ekta Punwani, Leader of the 100 Top Hospitals Program. “Year after year, Prime Healthcare’s staff, nurses and physicians demonstrate their focus on providing the highest-quality and safest care that results in this national recognition. The COVID-19 crisis was a catalyst for reinvention, and we believe these top-performing Prime hospitals are positioned to emerge stronger and smarter out of this crisis.”

IBM Watson Health uses a rigorous evaluation of 2,675 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals in the U.S to identify the top hospitals. The annual list recognizes excellence in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience, and financial health. IBM Watson Health established the list to help identify best practices that may help other healthcare organizations achieve consistent, balanced, and sustainable high performance.

“Prime’s mission is to bring quality compassionate care to communities, expand access, promote health equity by bringing care to those most in need, and improve the health of all we serve,” said Sunny Bhatia, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Prime Healthcare. “Many of these award-winning hospitals have been transformed as members of Prime, and this national recognition reflects our unique ability to save community hospitals and ensure they deliver the highest quality of care. Prime’s mission has been especially critical during the worldwide pandemic. We are committed to emerging better and stronger and are grateful to our physicians, nurses and staff who dedicate themselves to providing exceptional care.”

This year’s ranking of top hospitals introduces a measure of hospitals’ contributions to community health with a focus on equity developed by a team of experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. For the ranking, hospitals were surveyed across three components: 1) assessing hospital contributions as a provider of critical services for community health and preventive care; 2) identifying the ways hospitals contribute as community partners, teaming with local organizations to implement critical programs; and 3) focusing on ways hospitals promote community health as anchor institutions supporting local economic and social progress. Hospitals received credit for meeting a certain number of best-practice standards in each component. The new measure led to a change in ranking for more than one-third of the 100 hospitals.

“We are honored to have many of our Prime Healthcare Foundation hospitals named as national Top 100 hospitals,” said Kavitha Bhatia, MD, MMM, FAAP, President and Chair of Prime Healthcare Foundation. “Our Foundation hospitals have lived their mission of saving lives and serving communities at a time when that mission has never been more important. This was a year when the delivery of compassionate, quality care has been the most challenging, which is why this honor is especially significant. We are grateful for the unwavering and selfless dedication of our leaders, physicians, staff and especially our frontline caregivers for their remarkable and life-changing service.”

“We are proud of all of the hospitals, health systems and their dedicated clinicians and staff included among the Fortune/IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals,” said Irene Dankwa-Mullan, MD, MPH, Chief Health Equity Officer and Deputy Chief Health Officer at IBM Watson Health. “From small community hospitals to major teaching hospitals, organizations on this list demonstrate a relentless commitment to high value, patient-centered care and innovation. They also recognize the importance of contributing to the health of their communities and we applaud them for their programs that help provide equitable quality care and address health disparities.”

About IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals® Program: The IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals Program’s annual studies result in the Fortune/IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals list, Fortune/IBM Watson Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals list and IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems list. Organizations do not apply or pay for this honor or pay to promote their award. Award-winning hospitals and health systems serve as a model of excellence for the industry. Visit http://www.100tophospitals.com/ for more information.

About Prime Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Foundation: Prime Healthcare is an award-winning health system operating 46 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states, providing over 2.6 million patient visits annually. It is one of the nation’s leading health systems with nearly 50,000 employees and physicians dedicated to providing the highest quality healthcare. Fifteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. Based in Ontario, California, Prime Healthcare is nationally recognized for award-winning quality care and has been named a Top 10 and Top 15 Health System by IBM Watson Health. Its hospitals have been named among the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” 58 times and have received more Patient Safety Excellence Awards from Healthgrades than any other health system in the past five years. To learn more, please visit www.primehealthcare.com

Find us on:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/prime-healthcare
Twitter: twitter.com/_PrimeHealth
Facebook: facebook.com/primehealthcare
Instagram: instagram.com/prime_healthcare/