Mercy Hospital Springfield, formerly St. John's Hospital, took the No. 1 rank in IMS Health's 2012 list of the top 100 integrated health care networks in the country.
Only two other Missouri hospitals made
the list - Mercy Hospital St. Louis at No. 9, and Springfield's CoxHealth at No. 79.
Ratings are based on eight categories: integration, integrated technology, contractual capabilities, outpatient utilization, financial stability, services and access, hospital utilization and physicians, according to the Web site of IMS Health, a Danbury, Conn.-based provider of information, services and technology for the health care industry.
“We’ve moved from a No. 62 ranking in 1999 to No. 1 for three of the last five years because our integrated model of care allows us to connect all the dots for our caregivers and our patients,” said Jon Swope, president and CEO of Mercy Springfield Communities, formerly St. John’s Health System, in the release. “A strong partnership between our physicians and hospitals, and a comprehensive electronic health record that ties it all together, enables us to provide our patients with a highly coordinated health care experience."
Integration is a major theme of the ongoing Mercy name change transition. The Springfield hospital changed its name yesterday, along with St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Joplin, now Mercy Hospital Joplin, a number of other hospitals and all St. John's clinics in the area, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards echoed similar sentiment to Swope upon being recognized.
“Integrated care means better care, and we are proud to be recognized as one of the most integrated health systems in the nation,” Edwards said in a separate news release. “Our staff and our physicians work hard to provide a seamless, coordinated experience for our patients, and we’ve invested heavily in the tools and technology they need to achieve this goal.”[[In-content Ad]]
