STANFORD, CALIF. (September 20, 2019) – Stanford Medicine has been ranked in the top ten percent among peer academic medical centers (AMCs) for both inpatient and outpatient care by Vizient, Inc., the nation's leading health care performance improvement company that measures overall safety and quality in patient care.

In recognition of these achievements in care quality and safety, Vizient presented Stanford Medicine with two awards that were jointly accepted by David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Care and Lloyd Minor, M.D., dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine, on September 19 during the 2019 Vizient Connections Education Summit.

“This tremendous achievement is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff and faculty at Stanford Health Care and the School of Medicine,” said Entwistle. “I want to thank each and every one of our colleagues who have prioritized our commitment to continuously improving patient care. We could not have done this without them. I look forward to continuing our important work to further enhance safety and quality as we move into our new, state-of-the-art hospital where we will be able to bring the latest biomedical advances to patients.”

“Our rankings in the top ten percent for both inpatient and ambulatory care are a direct result of the collaboration between staff and faculty at Stanford Health Care and the School of Medicine that began years ago when we aligned our priorities and focused on strengthening the safety and quality of care,” said Minor. “Working together, we have been able to improve faster than we ever imagined possible.”

As a top performer in the 2019 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award category, Stanford Medicine was one of 11 Vizient members in the AMC cohort that was recognized for demonstrating excellence in delivering high-quality care based on the Vizient Quality and Accountability Ranking. Stanford Medicine also received the 2019 Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Award, which recognized Stanford Medicine as a faculty practice that demonstrates excellence in delivering high-quality outpatient care.

“As a world-class hospital and research center, Stanford Medicine uniquely understands the science of safety and quality as well as the importance of culture,” said Karen Frush, chief quality officer at Stanford Health Care. “The recognition by Vizient is additional proof that the systems we use to continually assess and improve the care we provide actually work.”

More about the 2019 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award

The Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award recognizes Stanford Medicine’s performance-driven culture for achieving the highest quality and patient-centered outcomes. This year, 349 participating hospitals were segmented into four cohorts for the Vizient Quality and Accountability Ranking. The ranking measured performance based on safety, mortality, clinical effectiveness, efficiency and patient centeredness. The ranking’s composite scoring system uses patient-level performance data from a variety of sources including the Vizient Clinical Data Base, core measures data, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

The Vizient Quality and Accountability Ranking helps participating hospitals and health systems understand their performance against their peers, and identifies structures and processes associated with high performance in quality and safety across a broad spectrum of patient care activity. The recognition period is for work spanning July 2018 through June 2019.

More about the 2019 Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Award

Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Award recipients are determined through the Vizient Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Study, which assesses data from participating academic faculty practices to measure performance in five domains: access to care, quality, efficiency, continuum of care and equity. The composite scoring system utilizes practice and patient-level data across several databases including the Vizient-AAMC Clinical Practice Solutions Center. The recognition period is for work spanning July 2018 through June 2019.

“As the industry continues to evolve, payment and care delivery models will also change, making it ever more important for faculty practices to leverage data to create a quality-driven organization,” said David Levine, group senior vice president, advanced analytics and product management for Vizient. “We celebrate Stanford Medicine for its ability to deliver ambulatory care that focuses on patient quality, while at the same time improving cost and accessibility to benefit not only the patients, but also the community it serves.”