The entrance to Mercy Health Clermont Hospital.

The entrance to Mercy Health Clermont Hospital.
For the fourth consecutive year, Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital has earned top honors in the nation in the 2012 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals study.

Researchers complete the study each year to measure the overall care hospitals provide in their community based on several factors.

“I think it re-confirms the high quality of care we provide and recognizes the team,” Gayle Heintzelman, site administrator at Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital, said about making the list. “It makes me proud. We’re up there with the rest of the country.”

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals study compares hospitals of the same size and teaching status. Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital was in the top 20 on the list for a medium-sized community hospital.

“Sometimes you wonder if the medical staff and nurses you work with are as good as you think they are,” Dr. Rob Lambert, associate medical director for the hospital, said. “This just confirms what you already suspected.”

Nearly 3,000 hospitals were evaluated for the study this year, and hospitals were measured in areas that included patient safety, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, financial stability, readmission rates and other areas.

Researchers with Thomson Reuters used public information from the hospitals to obtain their information, including Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data and more. Hospitals did not apply to be considered for the list.

“It’s no surprise to me, looking at these indicators every day,” Lisa Richardson, director of quality and case management at the hospital, said about the results. “It’s a wonderful confirmation but no surprise.”

Richardson said the hospital performed well in many of the areas measured, and performed especially well in the patient safety, length of stay and mortality rate categories.

“We have good outcomes of patient care, we’re efficient and we work hard to focus on patient quality and safety,” Heintzelman said about the results. “I think for a hospital, we are all on the same page for what we need to do.”

Heintzelman said even though the hospital is performing well, there are always areas to improve.

Heintzelman said one area they are working on improving currently is care after a patient has been discharged from the hospital.

She said they are focusing on making follow-up appointments with patients before they leave the hospital, and are making additional medical personnel available to check on patients after they leave.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to improve,” Heintzelman said. “That is one of the reasons I think we are in the top 100.”

Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital been named one of Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals the past four years in a row and has received the rating six times since the study began in 1993. Clermont Hospital was the only Mercy Health hospital in Ohio to make the list this year.

For more information about Mercy Health-Clermont Hospital visit http://e-mercy.com/clermont-hospital.aspx.