RUSH once again is included among the top academic medical centers in the nation participating in the annual ranking by Vizient, Inc. Of the 107 comprehensive U.S. academic medical centers assessed in the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study, RUSH University Medical Center was ranked No. 3 for excellence in delivering high-quality care. It is the only academic medical center in Illinois to rank in the top five.
Vizient also ranked RUSH University Medical Center No. 3 among 55 participating ambulatory (i.e., outpatient clinic) care practices in its Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Ranking.
In 2019, the Medical Center was No. 1 among participants in Vizient’s academic medical center rankings — officially named the Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Ranking — and it has been in the top five in the rankings for nine consecutive years. Vizient has assessed academic medical centers annually since 2005.
“The Vizient rankings again have affirmed that the quality of the care patients receive at RUSH is among the best available anywhere in the country,” said Dr. Omar Lateef, president and CEO of RUSH. “Our consistent place at the top of these rankings shows our staff’s unwavering commitment to providing the highest quality of care for every patient, every day, year in and year out.” You can hear more from Lateef in a video on YouTube.
“Health care increasingly is provided in outpatient settings, and the new Vizient rankings can make our patients confident that the care they receive in RUSH’s clinics throughout the Chicagoland area is as exceptional as the care for which RUSH hospitals are known,” added Dr. Richa Gupta, senior vice president and chief operating officer of RUSH University Medical Group.
The Vizient Quality and Accountability Study evaluates participants’ performance based on six domains of care: safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness and equity. The study helps participating hospitals and health systems understand their performance compared to their peers and identifies structures and processes associated with high performance in quality and safety across a broad spectrum of patient care activity. The new rankings recognize work spanning July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.
Many health care leaders consider Vizient’s annual study to be the most accurate gauge of the quality and safety of the care hospitals deliver because, unlike other ranking systems that take reputation into account or use old or incomplete data, the Quality and Accountability Study is based entirely on objective data related to patient outcomes for all inpatients, regardless of insurance coverage.
“Hospitals today are using data and analytics to help them more effectively deliver superior clinical outcomes and patient experiences,” said David Levine, group senior vice president, advanced analytics and product management at Vizient. “As a Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Top Performer, RUSH University Medical Center has demonstrated a successful leadership style, a shared sense of purpose, a focus on results, and a culture of collaboration, accountability and adaptability. We congratulate them on their achievement.”
