BayCare Hospitals Named Among Nation's 100 Top Hospitals by IBM Watson Health

March 06, 2018

Clearwater, Florida (March 6, 2018) – St. Joseph’s Hospitals in the Tampa area and Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor were named among the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by IBM Watson HealthTM.  Formerly known as the Truven Health Analytics® 100 Top Hospitals, this study spotlights the top-performing hospitals in the U.S. based on a balanced scorecard of publicly available quality, safety and patient satisfaction metrics and data.  St. Joseph’s and Mease Countryside were the only large community hospitals in the state of Florida to earn this recognition.

In addition, St. Joseph’s hospitals are one of only 13 in the nation to be named an Everest award winner.  This means that the hospitals simultaneously set the national benchmark for balanced excellence in a single year, as well as for greatest improvement over five consecutive years.

The Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals® study uses independent and objective research to analyze hospital and health system performance in 11 areas, addressing: inpatient mortality; 30-day mortality rate; complications; core measures; 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rate; severity-adjusted average length of stay; mean emergency room throughput; inpatient expense per discharge; Medicare spend per beneficiary; adjusted operating profit margin; and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score (patient rating of overall hospital performance). The study has been conducted annually since 1993. This is the tenth time BayCare’s Mease Countryside Hospital has been recognized with this honor and the second time for BayCare’s St. Joseph’s Hospitals.

“The prestigious recognition of being among the top 100 hospitals in the United States reflects unwavering dedication, passion and commitment to the quality of care we provide to our communities,” said Tommy Inzina, president/CEO, BayCare Health System. “Working together, our physicians and team members are committed to delivering the highest quality care. This most recent recognition from IBM Watson Health is testimony to their hard work and dedication to clinical excellence. We are proud that BayCare Health System is setting the standard for the delivery of excellent patient care.”

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness.

“The country’s best hospitals have proven that an unrelenting focus on quality, supported by constant measurement against peer performance benchmarks, can drive improved outcomes while reducing costs and growing profit margins,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president, 100 Top Hospitals Programs, IBM Watson Health. “Congratulations to this 25th anniversary class of 100 Top Hospitals who have helped raise the bar for healthcare in the U.S. and improve the healthcare experiences of the people in their communities.”

The winning hospitals were announced in the March 5th edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. For more information, visit www.100tophospitals.com. 

About BayCare

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit www.BayCare.org.

About IBM Watson Health

Watson Health is a business unit of IBM that is dedicated to the development and implementation of cognitive and data-driven technologies to advance health. Watson Health technologies are tackling a wide range of the world’s biggest healthcare challenges including cancer, diabetes, drug discovery and more. Learn more at ibm.com/watson/health.