April 28, 2021

Out of 324 health systems in the country, 15 were named this week to the IBM Watson Health list of top health systems.

Avera Health was one of them.

Sioux Falls-based Avera ranked with four other large health systems: Minneapolis-based Allina, Denver-based HCA Continental Division/HealthONE, Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic and Virginia-based Sentara Healthcare.

The annual list was published by Fortune.

“This is everybody’s award,” Avera Health CEO Bob Sutton said. “This is a recognition for our entire system and every person in it. This is an extreme celebration of pride in a 130-year-old tradition of caring.”

In the universe of health care awards, this is a big one, Avera leaders said.

“For me, it’s the professional caregivers — every day they work hard and it’s a hard profession, and this is affirmation of the hard work they do every day,” said Dave Flicek, CEO of Avera McKennan.

“They’re limiting infections and readmissions; that’s what they are most proud about and why they got into the profession. So they’re taking care of our friends and neighbors, and doing a great job at it.”

For the ranking, hospitals were surveyed across three components:

• Assessing hospital contributions to community health as a provider of critical services for community health and preventive care.
• Identifying ways that hospitals contribute to community health as a community partner teaming up with local organizations to implement critical programs.
• Focusing on ways that hospitals promote community health through their practices as anchor institutions supporting local economic and social progress.

Hospitals received credit for meeting a certain number of best-practice standards in each component as part of the survey scoring, and the new measure led to a change in ranking for more than one-third of the 100 hospitals.

Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center also was named as one of the nation’s 100 top hospitals, also by IBM Watson Health. It was evaluated against 2,522 hospitals.

The annual list recognizes excellence in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency and patient experience.

“From every level of our organization, we talk about quality,” Sutton said. “It isn’t something we just assume is going to happen; it’s not a given. From housekeeping to the highest level specialty physician, we focus on it each hour of each day. So it’s a big deal because of all those things, and we get to celebrate at a time when there have been a lot of challenges in health care. We achieved something in the middle of a pandemic where we were recognized for everything we’re doing right in health care delivery.”

Avera Health previously was named to the top 15 list in 2019. The 2021 ranking included mostly data from 2020 and in some cases looked back to 2019.

“Everyone in this organization owns quality,” said Dr. David Erickson, chief medical and innovation officer for Avera Health.

“The leadership starts at the top. … They fully support quality, and it’s a focus. We’re fully transparent and have been for many years and really focus on continual quality improvements.”

The organizations included on the IBM Watson Health top 15 list had better results on performance indicators intended to measure clinical outcomes, operational efficiency and patient experience. These include:

• Lower inpatient mortality rates and fewer patient complications, considering patient severity.
• Fewer health care-associated infections.
• Lower 30-day readmission rates.
• Shorter lengths of stay.
• Faster emergency care.
• Higher patient ratings of their overall hospital experience.
• Lower episode-of-care expenses for the in-hospital through after-care process.

“In a three-day stay, 74 different people enter a patient’s room,” Flicek said. “So to have this quality, every patient, every time, it is complex. And an award like this is affirming. People are focused. … We share every floor’s results, so we can learn from each other and try and improve.”

The distinction also helps with recruiting, he added.

“People want to know what quality is like in your hospital. Is administration supporting it? Do physicians have a voice? All that is affirmed when you get an award like this.”