UT Southwestern’s Clements Hospital and three suburban Baylor Scott & White Health hospitals made Healthgrades’ list of America’s 250 best hospitals. Of the 11 hospitals ranked in Texas, four were in DFW.
The Healthgrades ranking of America’s Best Hospitals comes from a review of 4,500 hospitals across the nation, analyzing clinical outcomes across multiple conditions and procedures. Patients treated at one of these hospitals have a 27.4 percent lower risk of dying and show significant improvements in surviving heart attacks, strokes, sepsis, and heart failure.
COVID-19 put hospitals’ adaptability to the test, pushing them to search for higher standards for cleaning, patient flow, isolation, triage, and personal protective equipment. Hospital design may be altered forever as healthcare providers look ahead to future infectious diseases. And hospital quality has never been more critical as resources were stretched thin during the pandemic.
Clements has made the list for the last three years, but BSW-Irving, Plano, and McKinney were ranked for the first time in 2021. In 2020, Healthgrades rated only Clements in DFW, but in 2019, two Texas Health Resources hospitals in Fort Worth made the top 250.
Healthgrades hopes to be a resource for patients to make care decisions based on data rather than instinct or geography. They can review hospitals and physicians and dig deep into quality reports. Healthgrades says that if all hospitals performed like their top-ranked hospitals, 167,235 Medicare patient lives would have been saved between 2017 and 2019.
In addition to making the overall ranking, the hospitals were awarded for quality in the following areas.
UTSW Clements University Hospital
- Patient Safety
- Cardiac Care
- Gastrointestinal Care
- General Surgery Care
Baylor Scott & White – Irving
- Patient Safety
- Pulmonary Care
Baylor Scott & White – Plano
- Patient Safety
- Patient Experience
- Gastrointestinal Care
- General Surgery Care
- Pulmonary Care
Baylor Scott & White – McKinney
- Patient Safety
- Patient Experience
- Gastrointestinal Care
- Pulmonary Care
- Stroke Care
Healthgrades also ranks the top 50 and 100 hospitals in the nation, but the only hospital in Texas to make those lists was Houston Methodist Hospital, which has been in the top 50 for the last three years.
According to a report highlighting what makes these facilities unique, Hospitals that rank well embrace a patient-centered mindset and work to engage them and their families. They set ambitious goals to improve outcomes and recognize all employees’ values, from the physicians and nurses to the support staff. They also aren’t afraid to look at themselves with a critical eye, identifying what isn’t working and removing obstacles to improvement.
“Now more than ever, consumers understand the importance of researching hospitals and finding the best organization to meet their healthcare needs,” said Dr. Brad Bowman, chief medical officer at Healthgrades via release. “Especially in this era of COVID-19, we commend the recipients of the Healthgrades America’s Best Hospitals Awards for their commitment to providing superior outcomes and keeping their communities safe.”
Learn more about the rankings here.
