Cottonwood Heights — MountainStar Healthcare – an affiliate of HCA Healthcare – was recently named to the IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems list. Several MountainStar hospitals have been recognized by IBM Watson Health over the years, but this marks the first time MountainStar Healthcare has been recognized with this honor as one of the top-performing health systems in the US The annual list was published earlier this week by Fortune.

In addition, two MountainStar Hospitals were named to the Fortune/IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals list. Included on this year’s list were Lone Peak Hospital (Draper) in the Small Community Hospitals category and St. Mark’s Hospital (Millcreek) in the Teaching Hospitals category. Both were named Everest Award winner, which recognizes hospitals for top rate of improvement during a five-year period.

IBM Watson Health has identified the top health systems from a rigorous evaluation of 324 health systems and 2,522 hospitals that are members of health systems. The annual list recognizes excellence in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency and patient experience. IBM Watson Health established the list to help identify top performance benchmarks that may help other healthcare organizations achieve consistent, balanced, and sustainable high performance.

“It’s particularly rewarding to receive this recognition as a system because it’s a reflection of the hard work and dedication of every colleague in every one of our eight hospitals up and down the Wasatch Front,” says MountainStar Healthcare President Greg Angle. “On top of that, there’s an extra sense of satisfaction to receive this award in the midst of a pandemic. Our colleagues have worked tirelessly fighting this pandemic with everything they have, and their commitment has been unwavering. It’s not hyperbolic to call them heroes, and this recognition is further validation of that.”

As a division of HCA Healthcare, Angle says the recognition is also a reinforcement of the tremendous value MountainStar derives from its HCA Healthcare affiliation and how its parent organization’s network of care, leadership, resources, and sharing of best practices are key to MountainStar’s success, including its continued pandemic response.

This recognition demonstrates MountainStar Healthcare’s ongoing commitment to prioritizing patient-centered care. As compared to their peer health systems, the organizations included on the IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems list had better results on performance indicators intended to measure clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, and patient experience. These include lower inpatient mortality rates and fewer patient complications, considering patient severity; care that resulted in fewer healthcare-associated infections; lower 30-day readmission rates; shorter lengths of stay; faster emergency care; higher scores on patient ratings of their overall hospital experience: and lower episode-of-care expenses for the in-hospital through the aftercare process. 

“We are proud of all of the hospitals, health systems and their dedicated clinicians and staff included among the IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems,” said Irene Dankwa-Mullan, MD, MPH, Chief Health Equity Officer and Deputy Chief Health officer at IBM Watson Health. “These organizations demonstrate a relentless commitment to high value, patient-centered care and innovation and we applaud them for their dedication and achievements.”

For more information, visit http://www.100tophospitals.com/.