Aspirus Wausau Hospital (AWH) has been recognized by IBM Watson Health in its annual 100 Top Hospitals study. The study identifies the top-performing hospitals in the country based on overall organizational performance. This is the seventh consecutive year AWH has earned the 100 Top Hospitals Award.

The Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals study spotlights the best-performing hospitals in the U.S. based on a balanced scorecard of publicly available clinical, operational and patient satisfaction metrics and data. It has been conducted annually since 1993.

“We are very proud of this extraordinary achievement for Aspirus Wausau Hospital. It demonstrates the great work of our board members, physicians, employees, volunteers and community members,” said Darrell Lentz, Aspirus Wausau Hospital president. “This recognition acknowledges our dedication to ensuring residents in our community receive comprehensive and essential health care services along with excellent patient experience.”

According to the IBM Watson Health national balanced scorecard, this year’s 100 Top Hospitals study revealed significant achievements from Aspirus Wausau Hospital and the other 99 award-winning hospitals. The study concluded the highest-performing hospitals:

• Survival rates were 24.9% better than at peer hospitals.
• Patients experienced 18.7% fewer complications and 19.3% fewer infections.
• Patients’ median severity-adjusted length of stay was nearly one half-day shorter.
• Emergency department wait times were 17.3 minutes shorter.
• Average inpatient costs per discharge were 11.9% lower.
• Patient satisfaction was measured at 3% higher.

IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals study uses only publicly available data to identify the nation’s hospitals that provide the highest level of value to their communities. It uses a national balanced scorecard based on key performance measures, including mortality, inpatient complications, patient safety, average patient stay, expenses, profitability, patient satisfaction, adherence to clinical standards of care, post-discharge mortality and readmission rates.

According to IBM Watson Health, based on the results of this year’s study, they extrapolate if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:

• More than 103,000 additional lives could be saved;
• More than 38,000 additional patients could be complication-free;
• More than $8.2 billion in inpatient costs could be saved; and
• Approximately 155,000 fewer discharged patients would be readmitted within 30 days.

IBM Watson Health has become one of the leading ways the industry can measure hospital performance in the nation. For the full list of the 100 Top Hospitals, please visit 100tophospitals.com.