Area hospitals ranked among the best in Ohio: See where they landed

“Premier Health is committed to quality patient care and improving the health of the communities we serve,” said Michael Riordan, president and CEO of Premier Health. “This acknowledgement from U.S. News and World Report demonstrates that our team of physicians, providers, nurses, clinical and support professionals excel in providing patient care at our hospitals each and every day. They inspire us all.”

Miami Valley Hospital’s ranking includes Miami Valley Hospital North in Englewood and Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville. The hospital was ranked high-performing in 10 areas of care: heart failure; heart attack; colon cancer surgery; hip replacement; knee replacement; diabetes; prostate cancer surgery; leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; maternity care (uncomplicated pregnancy); and stroke.

In addition, Premier Health’s Atrium Medical Center received a high-performing designation for heart attack and stroke, while Upper Valley Medical Center received a high-performing designation for maternity care (uncomplicated pregnancy).

Bethesda North Hospital in Cincinnati was also ranked among the top 10 hospitals in Ohio, and it was named high performing in one specialty and 10 procedures and/or conditions. Christ Hospital in Cincinnati was named third best hospital in Ohio, was nationally ranking in one specialty, and named high performing in four specialties and 12 procedures and/or conditions.

Kettering Health

Kettering Health had four hospitals named as high performing hospitals with Kettering Health Main Campus receiving the most ratings.

Kettering Health Main Campus earned high performing ratings for the following procedures and conditions: aortic valve surgery, colon cancer surgery, heart bypass surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement, and stroke.

Three other Kettering Health medical centers were also named as high performing for the following conditions or procedures:

“Receiving this recognition affirms our employees’ commitment to our patients’ best health,” said Brenda Kuhn, chief clinical officer at Kettering Health. “We remain dedicated to raising our standards of care and achieving patient-focused outcomes, resulting in superior healthcare.”

Mercy Health

Mercy Health had a number of its hospitals in southwest Ohio with high ratings in regard to heart health. Mercy Health-Springfield Regional Medical Center in Springfield was rated a high performing hospital in three conditions, including in heart attacks, heart failure, and stroke.

“We are incredibly proud to be recognized, and it confirms Mercy Health’s commitment to ensuring our patients have access to exceptional heart care in their local community,” Dr. Faiq Akhter, a cardiologist with Mercy Health-Springfield Regional Medical Center.

When Akhter first started with Mercy Health-Springfield Regional Medical Center, he saw patients going to Dayton or Columbus for interventions, he said. Embracing new technology has allowed them to offer a full range of services to local patients.

“We’ve also increased the number of cardiologists who are providing services here locally, and we will continue to look for opportunities to grow in both areas,” Akhter said. “It’s leading to higher quality outcomes for patients – they not only get better care faster, but we also have a comprehensive program that provides everything from preventative cardiology services to cardiac rehab which helps those who need intervention in their recovery phase.”

Other Mercy Health hospital rankings include:

Rankings evolve

U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 21 procedures and conditions.

“For 34 years, U.S. News has provided data-informed rankings to help patients and their doctors find the best hospital to treat their illness or condition,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. “Fewer than half of evaluated hospitals earned any high performing rating. Hospitals that are pigh performing have excelled in providing high quality care in specific procedures and/or conditions.”

To address varying needs for patients, U.S. News offers rankings and ratings in three dozen different health care services, including cancer care, orthopedics, heart bypass surgery, and more.

Some hospital systems have been pulling away from submitting data to U.S. News to be included in its rankings, like the University of Pennsylvania Health System and St. Luke’s University Health Network.

U.S. News’ methodology is “deeply flawed and misleading,” said St. Luke’s University Health Network. The information collected by U.S. News is too “narrow,” the University of Pennsylvania Health System said. The rankings also represent an outdated view of health care, the health system said, failing to capture the full breadth of “care everywhere” services.

“Health care is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and the ways performance is measured must also change. The ‘Best Hospitals’ rankings don’t account for all of the elements essential to improving patient outcomes, such as research, innovation, or value-based care,” said Kevin B. Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “Transparent metrics are an important tool for health systems to track and strengthen their efforts, but they should measure the full scope of operations dedicated to care delivery.”

U.S. News included updated posts on its methodology, including assigning more weight to clinical outcomes and other objective measures of quality. They plan to give less weight to U.S. News’ opinion survey of physicians.

“This shift reflects our ongoing effort to use more objective data in our hospital ranking methodologies,” Harder said.

The Dayton Daily News reached out to U.S. News for further comment.