Ballad Health legacy systems recognized nationally for excellence
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Mountain States Health Alliance, a subsidiary of Ballad Health, is one of America’s top performing health systems, according to a review published in Modern Healthcare, the lead industry trade magazine for healthcare. The analysis was published in the April 23 issue of the magazine.
The publication lists the health systems identified by IBM/Watson, one of the most recognized health care analytics enterprises in the nation, as among the top 20 percent in performance on key quality measures such as mortality rates, readmission rates, average length of stay for patients, rate of Medicare spending per beneficiary, emergency department throughput, hospital-acquired conditions and others. Other systems listed among the top 20 percent include the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Foundation, Mercy Health, and Sentara Healthcare. Mountain States is listed among the medium-sized systems with revenue from $800 million to $1.6 billion, and is the only medium-sized system in Tennessee or Virginia to be named among the top 20 percent.
The 2018 study analyzed 388 health systems and 2,422 hospitals that are members of health systems, and the legacy Mountain States health system ranked among the best in the country.
Separately, Wellmont Medical Associates, now a part of Ballad Health, is one of three organizations recognized with the 2018 Acclaim award for finding ways to improve the value of their services to the community. The Acclaim Award, supported by the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) Foundation, recognizes medical groups for improving the value they bring to the communities they serve by increasing quality and lowering the cost of health care. Wellmont Medical Associates was recognized as an honoree alongside Michigan Medicine.
The medical groups honored with the Acclaim Award “exemplify the highest quality health care in the United States,” said John W. Kennedy, president of the AMGA Foundation.
“We do not seek these recognitions, but when the data affirms that our health system is providing arguably the highest quality healthcare in America, we think this validates why our recent merger retaining local governance is so important,” said Ballad Health Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alan Levine. “All our team members and physicians are committed to delivering measurably high quality care. Seeing that the results are so good only inspires us to work harder to sustain it. I applaud all our team members and physicians who work hard every day - not for the recognition, but because they want our patients to be well.”
According to Levine, Ballad Health will study the results of the top quintile ranking to determine what opportunity exists to remain among the top quintile. “The most important part of these type of studies is to learn what we are good at, and where we can do even better, because the ultimate goal is to be the best.”
“Our top priority is to honor our patients by providing the best possible care,” said Ballad Health Chief Medical Officer Jerry Blackwell, M.D. “Our physicians and team members are always committed to measurable quality and to providing compassion to our friends and neighbors when they need our help.”
