Froedtert and MCW: Again recognized as national leader in health care quality

Media Contact: Kathy Sieja, (414) 805-2618, Kathy.Sieja@froedtert.com

Froedtert & MCW Again Recognized as National Leader in Health Care Quality

Milwaukee, Wis. (September 30, 2016) – For the second straight year, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital ranks among the nation’s top performing academic medical centers, according to an annual study by Vizient, an alliance of United States academic medical centers and hospitals.

The only Wisconsin hospital to be recognized, Froedtert & MCW Froedtert Hospital rose in the new national rankings to No. 4 from No. 5 in 2015. The Froedtert & MCW health network also was the only state health system recognized for excellence in outpatient care, and was one of just five organizations nationwide to earn this honor.

“Of the many health care quality rankings out there today, we view Vizient’s as most meaningful because it evaluates all care provided at our hospital rather than a just certain subset of patients or conditions, which is the methodology sometimes used by other ranking organizations,” said Froedtert Hospital President Cathy Buck. “In addition to this comprehensive approach, Vizient also stringently compares us to our national academic medical center peers in areas that truly make a difference in improving health care quality.”

The 14 top-performing academic medical centers that earned Vizient’s 2016 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award are:

University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics

NYU Langone Medical Center

Mayo Clinic Hospital-Rochester

Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital

Rush University Medical Center

WVU Medicine West Virginia University Hospitals

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Cedars-Sinai Health System

Houston Methodist

Nebraska Medicine

The Ohio State University Wexner Health System

University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers

University of Vermont Medical Center

More than 100 academic medical centers and 124 hospitals participated in the study. The ranking is published in the newly released Vizient 2016 Quality and Accountability Study, which assesses performance in quality and safety across a broad spectrum of patient care activities. The study criteria reflect the national Institute of Medicine’s six domains of care: safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity and patient-centeredness.

For outpatient care, the Froedtert & MCW health network ranked second nationally among the five health care organizations earning Vizient’s Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Award:

NYU Langone Medical Center, Faculty Group Practice

Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin

University of Minnesota Physicians

Denver Health

University Health Care, University of Utah Medical Group

The ranking methodology measured the quality of outpatient care in five areas: access to care, capacity and throughput, quality and efficiency, continuum of care and equity.

“The Froedtert & MCW health network’s top rankings again reflect its success in performing in the top decile nationally for clinical quality, and also sets the standard for quality ambulatory care,” says John R. Raymond Sr., MD, president and CEO of MCW. “This achievement is a testament to the diligent work of staff and providers who continually strive for excellence in caring for the health of our communities.”

The Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin regional health network is a partnership between Froedtert Health and the Medical College of Wisconsin. It comprises eastern Wisconsin’s only academic medical center, Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee; Community Memorial Hospital, Menomonee Falls; and St. Joseph’s Hospital, West Bend. The health network also includes more than 2,700 physicians across 25 primary and specialty clinical locations representing the collaboration of Wisconsin’s largest multispecialty physician practice with a community-based physician group. The network’s three hospitals have 804 staffed beds, more than 40,000 annual admissions and nearly 966,000 annual outpatient visits. Froedtert & MCW network physicians have more than 775,000 annual patient visits at its health centers and clinics. For more information, visit www.froedtert.com.