WAUSAU, Wis. – Aspirus has been named one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems by IBM Watson HealthTM. The award spotlights the best-performing health systems in the U.S., based on a balanced scorecard of publicly available clinical, operational and patient satisfaction metrics and data.
This year’s 15 Top Health Systems study evaluated 337 health systems and 2,961 member hospitals to identify the 15 U.S. health systems with the highest overall achievement on a balanced scorecard. The scorecard is based on the 100 Top Hospitals® national balanced scorecard methodologies and focuses on five performance domains: inpatient outcomes, process of care, extended outcomes, efficiency, and patient experience. Aspirus was also recognized in 2018 with this honor.
Matthew Heywood
President/CEO
“We care deeply about the communities we serve, from Adams, Wisconsin, to Laurium, Michigan,” said Matthew F. Heywood, president and chief executive officer for Aspirus. “We have worked incredibly hard as a team to constantly improve the quality and experience of care we provide, so this recognition means the world to our team.”
Based on extrapolating the results of this year’s study, if all similarly-situated Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:
- More than 60,000 additional lives could be saved;
- More than 26,000 additional patients could be complication-free;
- Healthcare-associated infections would be reduced by 10%; and
- Patients would spend 38 minutes less in hospital emergency rooms per visit.
"The multi-year trend toward increased healthcare consolidation has shined a spotlight on health system performance, illuminating both the challenges of coordinating care across multiple facilities and the opportunities that can come with scale," said Ekta Punwani, 100 Top Hospitals® program leader at IBM Watson Health. “The institutions recognized in the IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems study are providing a blueprint for how to improve quality, lower costs and achieve outstanding patient satisfaction on a consistent basis.”
For more information, visit 100tophospitals.com.
About Aspirus
Aspirus is a non-profit, community-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Its 7,700 employees are focused on improving the health and well-being of people throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Aspirus serves communities through four hospitals in Upper Michigan and four hospitals in Wisconsin, more than 50 clinics, home health and hospice care, pharmacies, critical care and air-medical transport, medical goods, nursing homes and a broad network of physicians. Aspirus was recognized in 2018 and 2019 by IBM Watson Health as a 15 Top Health System in its study identifying the top-performing health systems in the country.