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Lehigh Valley, PA (3/4/2015) – St. Luke’s University Health Network last week was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Truven Health Analytics,TM a leading provider of data-driven analytics and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.

The Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals® study identifies hospitals and leadership teams that provide the highest level of value to their communities, based on a national balanced scorecard. The 100 Top Hospitals balanced scorecard measures overall organizational performance across 11 key analytic measures including patient care, operational efficiency and financial stability. The study has been conducted annually since 1993.
This is the third time St. Luke’s has been recognized with this honor. It was also honored in 1997 and in 2001. All three times St. Luke’s was ranked in the Major Teaching Hospital category, this year with Duke, Stanford and Emory university hospitals.

“Why is this ranking so significant? Because unlike other awards such as US News, this award is solely based on clinical outcomes, efficiencies of care and financial performance. This is the award that judges hospitals ability to thrive under new national imperatives to provide the highest value of care -- great quality at lower cost,” Rick Anderson, St. Luke’s president and CEO, said.

The winning hospitals were announced in the March 2, 2015, edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.
“This year’s 100 Top Hospitals represent the highest national standards in hospital care and management today. They set the benchmarks for peers around the country to follow — consistently delivering outstanding quality of care, satisfaction and community value at a reasonable cost,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and the 100 Top Hospitals program at Truven Health Analytics. “The majority of the 2015 award winners have produced year-to-year performance improvement, as well. This speaks to the consistent focus on excellence by the entire organization and the men and women who serve patients.”

The study shows that if all hospitals in the U.S. performed at the level of this year's winners:

• 126,471 additional lives could be saved
• 108,926 additional patients could be complication-free
• $1.8 billion in inpatient costs could be saved
• The average patient stay would decrease by half a day
• Episode-of-illness expense would be 2 percent lower than the peer average

More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at 100tophospitals.com.

Media Contact:

Mariella B. Miller
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
St. Luke's University Health Network
484-526-4134
Mariella.miller@sluhn.org

For more information about St. Luke’s services or to find a physician, call St. Luke’s InfoLink toll-free at 1-866-STLUKES (785-8537) Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm or email us anytime at Info.Link@sluhn.org.