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Lower Bucks Hospital Receives “A” Grade on the Lown Institute Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility
Bristol, PA (April 1, 2023) – Lower Bucks Hospital has been ranked in the Top 100 Hospitals in the Nation and forth in Pennsylvania for Cost Efficiency by the Lown Institute, a non-partisan healthcare think tank.
The hospital earned a place on the Lown Institute’s Honor Roll by earning “A” grades in social responsibility, value of care, patient outcomes, clinical outcomes and cost efficiency, within the following measures that determine overall social responsibility:
Health equity – commitment to inclusivity, pay equity, and community investment
Value of care – how efficiently hospital delivers care and avoids low-value services
Outcomes – success at clinical outcomes, patient safety, and patient satisfaction
“America needs socially responsible hospitals,” said Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute. “That’s why it’s so important to lift up these high-performing hospitals as examples for others to follow.”
The Lown Institute’s Index for Social Responsibility is the first ranking to measure the social responsibility of more than 3,600 U.S. hospitals nationwide. It applies never-before-used metrics such as racial inclusivity, avoidance of overuse, and community benefit.
“At Lower Bucks Hospital, we are committed to providing the highest level of care to our community, including our most economically challenged and diverse urban populations,” said Lea Rodriguez, Chief Nursing Officer, Lower Bucks Hospital. “Receiving an A grade in these important measures is a testament to how Lower Bucks Hospital truly ‘cares for you like family’.”
The Lown Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility utilizes more than 50 metrics to assess how well hospitals succeed at being care providers, employers, and community partners. Data sources include Medicare claims, CMS patient safety data and hospital cost reports, and IRS 990 forms, among others.
Learn more about the Lown Hospital Index for Social Responsibility by visiting www.LownHospitalsIndex.org.
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About Lower Bucks Hospital: Lower Bucks Hospital is a community hospital, serving the Lower Bucks County region with medical, surgical, and emergency care. Located in historic Bristol, Pennsylvania, the Hospital is well-known for its knowledgeable medical staff, including cardiology, orthopedics, radiology, wound care, and general surgery. The hospital has more than 200 physicians on staff, as well as another 700 employees. As part of Prime Healthcare Services, headquartered in Ontario, California, Lower Bucks Hospital is focused on becoming one of the leaders in technology.
Prime Healthcare is an award-winning hospital management company operating 45 acute care hospitals in 14 states, including Roxborough Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia, Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol, and Suburban Community Hospital in Montgomery County.
About Prime Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Foundation: Prime Healthcare is an award-winning health system operating 45 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states, providing over 2.6 million patient visits annually. It is one of the nation’s leading health systems with nearly 50,000 employees and physicians dedicated to providing the highest quality healthcare. Fourteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. Based in Ontario, California, Prime Healthcare is nationally recognized for award-winning quality care and has been named a Top 10 and Top 15 Health System by IBM Watson Health. Its hospitals have been named among the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” 58 times and have received more Patient Safety Excellence Awards from Healthgrades than any other health system in the past six years. To learn more, please visit www.primehealthcare.com
About the Lown Institute and its methodology: Founded in 1973 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Bernard Lown, MD, developer of the defibrillator and cardioverter, the Lown Institute believes that a radically better system of health is possible and generates bold ideas towards that goal. The Lown Hospitals Index, a signature project of the Institute, is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying measures never used before like racial inclusivity, avoidance of overuse, and pay equity.
The Lown Institute Hospitals Index evaluated 3,709 general acute hospitals in the U.S. Information on hospital characteristics was taken from the Fiscal Year 2018 American Hospital Association (AHA) annual survey and Medicare Impact File as well as the CMS Hospital Compare database.
Non-acute care hospitals, federal hospitals (e.g. Veterans Health Administration) and those outside of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. were excluded, as were hospitals run by Medicare Advantage programs (e.g. Kaiser Permanente), and specialty hospitals with more than 45% admissions for orthopedic, cardiac, or surgical procedures. Hospitals that were closed as of October 2020 by checking against Hospital Compare, a website run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), were eliminated. Hospitals with patient volume below 50 annual patient stays were also eliminated as well as hospitals that did not perform any surgery in each of the three years spanning 2016 to 2018. This left a list of 3,709 hospitals: 568 for-profits, 2,405 private nonprofits, and 736 public nonprofits.
The Lown Institute Hospitals Index has 54 metrics distributed across four tiers. Additional ranking information, including an explanation of methods, is available at LownHospitalsIndex.org.