TriCounty Area Chamber Of Commerce: Pottstown Hospital Is Committed To And Ranked For Social Responsibility

Press release from TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce:

March 02, 2022

(POTTSTOWN, PA) – March 2022 – Pottstown Hospital is proud to announce it has been ranked in the Top 100 Hospitals in the Country and second in Pennsylvania for Pay Equity by the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan health care think tank.
 
Pottstown Hospital earned a place on the Lown Institute’s Honor Roll by earning “A” grades in inclusivity, clinical outcomes, cost efficiency, and pay equity within the following measures that determine overall social responsibility:

• Health equity - commitment to inclusivity, pay equity and community investment
• Value of care - how efficiently hospital delivers care and avoids low-value services
• Outcomes - success at clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient satisfaction

Health equity has become a top priority for American hospitals amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and movements for racial justice. “It’s not enough for hospitals to say they’re committed to social responsibility. They need to put their commitment into action,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute in a news release announcing the rankings. “Doing well on the Lown Index is one way they can demonstrate progress.”
 
The Lown Institute Hospitals Index examined the inclusivity of 3,709 U.S. hospitals to assess their success at serving the people of color living in their communities. To create the rankings, the Lown Institute assessed how well the demographics of a hospital’s Medicare patients matched the demographics of the hospital’s surrounding communities.
 
“At Pottstown Hospital, we are committed to providing the highest level of care to our community including our most economically challenged and diverse urban populations,” said Rich Newell, MPT, DPT, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The dedication from our entire staff to provide healing for all, above all, has earned us this recognition.”
Additional ranking information, including an explanation of methods, is available at LownHospitalsIndex.org/inclusivity.
  
ABOUT THE LOWN INSTITUTE and its methodology
Founded in 1973 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Bernard Lown, MD, developer of the defibrillator and cardioverter, the Lown Institute believes that a radically better system of health is possible and generates bold ideas towards that goal. The Lown Hospitals Index, a signature project of the Institute, is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying measures never used before like racial inclusivity, avoidance of overuse, and pay equity.
 
The Lown Institute Hospitals Index evaluated 3,709 general acute hospitals in the U.S. Information on hospital characteristics was taken from the Fiscal Year 2018 American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey and Medicare Impact File as well as the CMS Hospital Compare database
 
Non-acute care hospitals, federal hospitals (e.g. Veterans Health Administration) and those outside of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. were excluded, as were hospitals run by Medicare Advantage programs (e.g. Kaiser Permanente), and specialty hospitals with more than 45% admissions for orthopedic, cardiac, or surgical procedures. Hospitals that were closed as of October 2020 by checking against Hospital Compare, a website run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), were eliminated. Hospitals with patient volume below 50 annual patient stays were also eliminated as well as hospitals that did not perform any surgery in each of the three years spanning 2016 to 2018. This left a list of 3,709 hospitals: 568 for-profits, 2,405 private nonprofits, and 736 public nonprofits.
 
The Lown Institute Hospitals Index has 54 metrics distributed across four tiers. Additional ranking information, including an explanation of methods, is available at LownHospitalIndex.org.

This press release was produced by TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.