Douglas, Paulding Wellstar Hospitals Rank High For Social Good

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — WellStar hospitals in Douglas and Paulding counties were rated among the top medical facilities in the nation for investing in community health, according to a study released last week by a non-partisan think tank.

Wellstar Douglas Hospital in Douglasville ranked 6th among more than 3,200 medical facilities for civic leadership, value of care and patient outcomes, according to the study by the Massachusetts-based Lown Institute.

Wellstar Paulding Hospital in Hiram ranked 35th in the same survey, which Lown released on July 7.

“There are some very fine hospitals that feel forced to focus on profitable elective procedures to stay in business,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. “This can lead to business decisions that make them look good on outcomes like mortality, but at the expense of equity.”

Wellstar’s Douglas and Paulding county hospitals rated high for

• Civic leadership, a measure of how hospitals serve low-income patients and patients of color;
• Value, a measure of how a hospital avoids overusing non-essential procedures, such as head imaging for simple headaches;
• Outcomes, a measure of how well patients do, drawn from Lown’s Risk Stratification Index, which is based on Medicare and other datasets, along with billions of insurance claims.

“No other hospital ranking provides a 360-degree view of hospital performance,” said Shannon Brownlee, senior vice president at the Lown Institute. “Many of the best-known hospitals score highly on patient outcomes but poorly on civic leadership and value of care. Our data show that it’s possible to do well in all three categories, because some hospitals are doing it.”

Other Georgia hospitals in the top 500 were Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center in Athens, 170; Wellstar Cobb Hospital in Austell, 197; Wellstar Spalding Hospital in Griffin, 433; and Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville, 498.

The complete list of ranked hospitals is posted on the Lown Institute’s website.

Founded in 1973 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Bernard Lown, developer of the defibrillator and cardioverter, the Lown Institute focuses on health care issues such as medical overuse and underuse, health equity, and cost of care.

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