Outcome comparisons have long been viewed as a powerful way to motivate improvement in the quality of care delivered. The CareScience 2005 Top Performers were identified through the CareScience Select Practice Methodology which uses both quality and efficiency dimensions to rank hospital performance. The CareScience model for quality of care is measured by the incidence of three outcomes: mortality, morbidity, and complications, which are combined into a single quality measure.

Hospitals then are ranked according to their quality index. And, since a highly-rated hospital should deliver excellent healthcare in an efficient way, CareScience's model rates efficiency, which is captured by length-of-stay (LOS). Length-of-stay is used as a proxy for resource usage, based on the assumption that a hospital spends more resources on patients who stay longer in the hospital. Please click here to view the Top Performer Methodology paper.

The 2005 Top Performers were recently recognized at the CareScience 2005 National Conference for performance in one or more of the following populations:

• Ischemic Stroke
• Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI)
• Medically Managed Myocardial Infarction
• Total Knee Replacement
• Total Hip Replacement
• AMI treated with Coronary Artery Bypass (CABG) (excluding valve replacement)
• AMI treated with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (excluding CABG & valve replacement)
• CABG (excluding AMI & valve replacement)