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Valley View is not your typical rural hospital. Solucient, an Evanston, Ill.-based health-care information company, recently named the Glenwood Springs hospital one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States.
Valley View is among only 20 small community hospitals (up to 90 beds) out of 1,147 in the country, and the only one of its size in Colorado, in the top 100. Only one other hospital from Colorado made the grade - Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins (200 or more beds).
To rank the hospitals, Solucient compared clinical, financial and operating efficiency statistics such as patient mortality, average length of stay, operating profit margins and per-patient expenses. While Valley View has won awards for financial management, this is the first time it has received recognition for its clinical practices, said Valley View CEO Gary Brewer.
"We spend a lot more time looking at clinical data than financial data," he said.
Valley View clinicians are particular cases with less-than-optimal outcomes, with a view to improving the hospital's performance. They also set protocols for treatment that will mean shorter hospital stays and better patient recovery.
"If someone comes in with pneumonia into the Emergency Room, they are immediately put on antibiotics ... so we start them on the path to recovery much faster," Brewer said.
Not all cases fit into the standard protocol, he added.
Another standard Solucient examined was Valley View's percentage of its market share. Valley View serves people from Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Rifle and Vail. It also competes with hospitals in Aspen, Rifle and Vail.
Solucient found that the market share percentage grew overall among the top 100 hospitals, while it fell within other hospitals of similar size.
"Solucient calculates that if all acute-care hospitals performed at the same level as the top 100 hospitals, at least 66,342 more patients could survive and an additional 66,506 patients could be complication-free each year, at an estimated annual savings of $6.2 billion," Brewer said.
In addition, the study found that small community hospitals have the highest survival rate, 97 percent. "That means 12 additional patients survive in a benchmark hospital," he said.
For a small hospital in a small town of about 9,000 people, Valley View has a strong staff and up-to-date equipment, Brewer said.
"We are not a typical 80-bed hospital. We're more like 120-bed. We deliver a lot of babies and provide a lot of outpatient services," he said, primarily because the valley has a younger population, which doesn't need as many overnight stays in the hospital.
Best of all, Brewer said he has the satisfaction of knowing that the award came to Valley View while the new hospital is under construction.
"We spend $2 to $3 million a year on new equipment, but more than anything the hospital is about people," he said."We spend $2 to $3 million a year on new equipment, but more than anything the hospital is about people," he said.
Valley View is among only 20 small community hospitals (up to 90 beds) out of 1,147 in the country, and the only one of its size in Colorado, in the top 100. Only one other hospital from Colorado made the grade - Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins (200 or more beds).
To rank the hospitals, Solucient compared clinical, financial and operating efficiency statistics such as patient mortality, average length of stay, operating profit margins and per-patient expenses. While Valley View has won awards for financial management, this is the first time it has received recognition for its clinical practices, said Valley View CEO Gary Brewer.
"We spend a lot more time looking at clinical data than financial data," he said.
Valley View clinicians are particular cases with less-than-optimal outcomes, with a view to improving the hospital's performance. They also set protocols for treatment that will mean shorter hospital stays and better patient recovery.
"If someone comes in with pneumonia into the Emergency Room, they are immediately put on antibiotics ... so we start them on the path to recovery much faster," Brewer said.
Not all cases fit into the standard protocol, he added.
Another standard Solucient examined was Valley View's percentage of its market share. Valley View serves people from Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Rifle and Vail. It also competes with hospitals in Aspen, Rifle and Vail.
Solucient found that the market share percentage grew overall among the top 100 hospitals, while it fell within other hospitals of similar size.
"Solucient calculates that if all acute-care hospitals performed at the same level as the top 100 hospitals, at least 66,342 more patients could survive and an additional 66,506 patients could be complication-free each year, at an estimated annual savings of $6.2 billion," Brewer said.
In addition, the study found that small community hospitals have the highest survival rate, 97 percent. "That means 12 additional patients survive in a benchmark hospital," he said.
For a small hospital in a small town of about 9,000 people, Valley View has a strong staff and up-to-date equipment, Brewer said.
"We are not a typical 80-bed hospital. We're more like 120-bed. We deliver a lot of babies and provide a lot of outpatient services," he said, primarily because the valley has a younger population, which doesn't need as many overnight stays in the hospital.
Best of all, Brewer said he has the satisfaction of knowing that the award came to Valley View while the new hospital is under construction.
"We spend $2 to $3 million a year on new equipment, but more than anything the hospital is about people," he said."We spend $2 to $3 million a year on new equipment, but more than anything the hospital is about people," he said.
