Corpus Christi Medical Center Named One of the Nation's Top Hospitals.

Online, April 21, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Corpus Christi Medical Center was named as one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals® study evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality; medical complications; patient safety; average patient stay; expenses; profitability; patient satisfaction; adherence to clinical standards of care; post-discharge mortality; and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, and pneumonia. The study has been conducted annually since 1993.

"Corpus Christi Medical Center is proud to be honored as one of the Nation's 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuter," said Edward Lamb, Chief Executive Officer at CCMC. "This exclusive award designation acknowledges the staff and physicians at Corpus Christi Medical Center for making a difference and setting the standards in patient care in South Texas."

Founded in 1962, Corpus Christi Medical Center is a 583-bed Health Care System with an outstanding team of more than 1,200 medical professionals and over 500 medical staff members. Corpus Christi Medical Center offers a comprehensive scope of inpatient and outpatient medical, surgical and specialty services. From caring for fragile newborns to complex cardiovascular patients, Corpus Christi Medical Center ensures the community receives the highest quality medical care available.

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, Thomson Reuters researchers evaluated 2,914 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals. They used public information - Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, and core measures and patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website. Hospitals do not apply, and winners do not pay to market this honor.

The winning hospitals were announced in the March 28, 2011 edition of Modern Healthcare Magazine.
"This year's 100 Top Hospitals award winners have delivered exemplary results, despite volatility from healthcare reform," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Thomson Reuters. "The leadership teams at these organizations have dealt with enormous ambiguity, yet remained focused on mission and excellence across the hospital which drove national benchmarks to new highs."

If all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:
• Nearly 116,000 additional patients would survive each year.
• More than 197,000 patient complications would be avoided annually.
• Expense per adjusted discharge would drop by $462.
• The average patient stay would decrease by half a day.
If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact would be even greater.
More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com.