WVU Medicine-Ruby Memorial Hospital continues to climb in UHC rankings

WVU Medicine-Ruby Memorial Hospital was ranked ninth, according to a mid-year report just issued by the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC).

UHC is an alliance of more than 100 of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers and their affiliated hospitals. The alliance is focused on delivering world-class patient care. The rankings are determined by UHC’s Quality and Accountability Study, which measures excellence in delivering high-quality care.

WVU Medicine was ranked No. 18 in last year’s study, its best-ever ranking, and up from No. 37 in 2014.

Michael Sweet, director, Center for Quality Outcomes, said the institution has continued to move up the rankings because of its focus on quality measures, which improve its clinical performance. WVU Medicine continues to make statistical gains in key areas such as patient mortality, safety, and effectiveness of care, Sweet said.

“Many things that are written in our Performance Improvement (PI) Plan are also in their calculator,” Sweet said. “The good thing about these rankings is they are not influenced by reputation. UHC puts a lot of work into it, and the rankings are purely based on performance.”

And while WVU Medicine is projected to be ranked within the top 20 again in UHC’s end-of-year report, Sweet said the final rankings include data from care provided from Jan. 1 to June 30. WVU Medicine’s final ranking will be revealed in October at UHC's fall meeting.

The ultimate goal is to finish in the top 10 in the final rankings.

“Even with our rapid expansion of facilities and staff, we expect to stay on a course of steady improvement in mortality, efficiency and effectiveness,” Sweet said. “The goal is to not only be in the top 10 but to maintain that status.”