Lancaster General Hospital Makes Best Hospitals List Five Times

This year Lancaster General Hospital made U.S. News & World Report’s top 50 lists in five medical specialties. For 16 years, the magazine has been ranking the best hospitals in the nation. Only 176 of 6,007 hospitals were ranked in at least one specialty. To make five lists is something Lancaster General Hospital nurses, physicians and staff are exceptionally proud of.

It’s the second straight year for top 50 honors in Heart & Heart Surgery and Hormonal Disorders, the first for Orthopedics and Ear, Nose & Throat, and a return to the list for Urology, which was recognized by U.S. News serveral years ago.

“When I talk with friends and neighbors, I find they are extremely proud to have a hospital of this caliber in our community, says Becky Bumsted, Lancaster General Hospital Board Chairperson. “As they make decisions regarding healthcare needs, they definitely take honors such as U.S. News & World Report into account. Knowing we are nationally recognized gives them an extra level of confidence.”

U.S. News examines three years of data and works with a consulting firm to compile results. Mortality and care-related factors are two of the criteria evaluated.

Mortality relates to how often patients die at a hospital. If the rating is below 1.00, it means the hospital had better-than-expected death rates. If the rating is above 1.00, it means the hospital did worse than anticipated. Lancaster General Hospital had better than expected mortality rates in all ranked specialties.

Care-related factors include patient/community services and technology and other factors, including:

• Discharges – refers to how many Medicare patients were discharged in 2001, 2002 and 2003 after receiving a specific type of care or treatment. Studies show that outcomes are related to volumes because higher volumes indicate a higher degree of experience.
• Nurse/Patient Index – is the ratio of nurses to patients. U.S. News looks at the numbers of RNs who are on a hospital’s staff. Lancaster General Hospital is dedicated to hiring and retaining outstanding nurses.
• Magnet Facility – Magnet designation denotes nursing excellence based on criteria established by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Only two percent of the hospitals in the nation achieve this designation, which represents quality patient care services.
• Trauma Center – the hospital must be a state-certified Level 1 or 2 trauma center. According to U.S. News, board certified physicians find this designation to be a key indicator of hospital quality. Lancaster General Hospital is a Level 2 trauma center.
• Key Technologies – refers to availability of important technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, ultrasound and more. Each specialty has a specific set of key technologies that are evaluated.
• Patient/Community Services – In this category, U.S. News examines services such as pain management, language translation, infection control practices, rehabilitation and patient advocacy. “Comprehensive patient care means more than having state-of-the-art facilities, it also means treating the whole patient,” says Bruce Pokorney, MD, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs.

For U.S. News consideration, hospitals must also have a minimum number of discharges in each medical specialty being evaluated.

One of the specialties that continues to grow and develop at Lancaster General Hospital is heart care. Tim Zellers, RN, MSN, Assistant Vice President of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Services, oversees the Lancaster General Heart Center—recognized by U.S. News two years in a row.

He says that the U.S. News rankings do more than highlight key specialties. They also speak to the strength of the entire hospital, including all its staff, physicians and programs.

“The rankings reflect Lancaster General Hospital’s history of providing high-quality care and state-of-the-art technologies to meet patients’ needs. We want them to have access to this caliber of care right here in their own community,” Tim says.

In addition, Tim says that one of the key ingredients to the Heart Center’s success includes its unending focus on performance improvement. Treatment time for heart attack patients is evidence of this commitment. “We consistently surpass the national benchmark of 90 minutes from the time the patient comes in our emergency department until we get them in the catheterization lab and open their blocked blood vessel,” Tim says. “We  are constantly evaluating and revising our processes to identify opportunities to improve treatment times even further. Our goal this year is to decrease this time to 65 minutes.”

“We’ve always been recognized for our outstanding results relating to cardiothoracic surgery and are noted as a high-quality provider with low charges, as per Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) results, which provides value to the consumer,” Tim says. “Our electrophysiology program is also rapidly gaining national recognition as a high-volume, quality program.”

Although new to the U.S. News list this year, the orthopedic program has long had a reputation for excellence. Stacey Youcis, Assistant Vice President of Musculoskeletal and Surgical Services, directs the Lancaster General Orthopedic Center. This beautiful, state-of-the-art facility opened in late 2004 to outstanding reviews from patients, families, surgeons and staff.

“Our staff and physicians are dedicated to the needs of orthopedic patients and their families. The diagnosis of a musculoskeletal injury or disease can have a significant impact on a patient’s lifestyle,” Stacey says. “Our team is completely focused on working with the patient and their family to treat the entire person, not just the injury or disease. Our goal is to do all we can to meet the patient’s and family’s expectations of care and service and return patients to an optimum level of function.”

Marion McGowan, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, sums up the feeling of the entire Lancaster General Hospital team when she talks about the unique and awesome responsibility of caring for thousands of men, women and children every year. “We take that commitment seriously and are constantly seeking to improve our quality of care and improve patient access to our services,” Marion says.