BMH Named in Thomson 100 Top Hospitals® List

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital was honored when it was listed on the Thomson (formerly Solucient) 2005 100 Top Hospitals® list. BMH was honored in this national recognition with the “Performance Improvement (PI) Leaders” award, a study designed to identify leading hospitals that have instilled a true culture of performance improvement across their organization over five consecutive years.

A total of 2,744 hospitals were included in the nationwide study. Brattleboro Memorial is one of only twenty small community hospitals (25 - 99 acute-care beds), and the only hospital in Vermont to be so honored. The announcement was made in a national press release in May, and an article appeared in that month’s issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

Hospitals selected for this prestigious list are those that saw the fastest and most consistent rate of change in nine measures of financial, operational, and clinical performance throughout this five-year period. They are ranked with their peers according to size (five categories), and then within their respective categories on the nine measures of performance. Improvement in such factors as risk-adjusted mortality rates, complications index, and patient safety figured in the analysis. Those on the "Top 100 Hospitals" list also showed significantly improved operating margins and severity-adjusted average length of stay at their hospitals.

The Thomson PI Leaders study measures the rate and consistency of hospital-wide performance improvement nationally. To select hospitals for the list of 100 most-improved performers, BMH was analyzed for Medicare cost reports – federal fiscal years 2000-04, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data from federal fiscal years 1999-04, and CMS Standard Analytical File Outpatient Data Set for the calendar years 2000-03.

Barry Beeman, President and CEO of BMH, said of the honor, “I am very proud of this significant accomplishment that the hospital staff, the BMH medical staff, the volunteers, and the board of trustees have helped to achieve for Brattleboro Memorial.”

He further stated, “Being named among the top 100 hospitals in the United States this year will serve as a jump start for our continued focus in improving our patients’ experience, the quality of our service, and our earnest efforts to promote patient safety.”

The award is meaningful because it indicates Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has met national benchmarks for success.