Medical Center ranked in the top 100 in National Community Value Index

Medical Center ranked in the top 100 in National Community Value Index

Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center was recently recognized as one of the nation’s top 100 hospitals by Cleverley + Associates, of Columbus, Ohio. Cleverley + Associates, a leading health care financial consulting firm specializing in operational benchmarking and performance enhancement strategies, released the findings as part of the 2010 edition of its State of the Hospital Industry publication.

“We are honored that Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has once again been recognized for the value we provide to the community, through cost-effective, high quality health services,” said Harold L. Paz, chief executive officer of the Medical Center, Penn State's senior vice president for health affairs, and dean of Penn State College of Medicine. “Our commitment to quality and efficiency enables us to provide state-of-the-art care while managing costs effectively, benefiting our patients and the community we serve.”

Penn State Hershey Medical Center is one of only six hospitals in Pennsylvania chosen for Cleverley + Associates’ Community Value Index (CVI) top 100 list and also earned Community Value Five-Star distinction, which goes to the top fifth of "high intensity teaching" hospitals.

Written by William O. Cleverley, a noted expert in health care finance, the State of the Hospital Industry reports selected measures of hospital financial performance and discusses the critical factors behind them. The publication focuses on the U.S. acute-care hospital industry over three years, from 2006 to 2008.

For the seventh year, State of the Hospital Industry reports the CVI, an exclusive measure developed by Cleverley + Associates. The CVI is a proprietary index created to offer a measure of the value that a hospital provides to its community. The book outlines the data used to calculate the CVI and provides a list of the top 100 and all Five-Star hospitals.

“The topic of hospital value is increasingly being discussed. Issues of pricing and community benefit have been well-publicized but little has been offered to measure the broad scope of value,” said James Cleverley, co-author. “In response, the Community Value Index was created to provide an assessment of a hospital’s performance in four areas: financial strength and reinvestment, cost of care, pricing and quality. Fundamentally, the CVI suggests that a hospital provides value to the community when it is financially viable, is appropriately reinvesting back into the facility, maintains a low cost structure, has reasonable charges and provides high quality care to patients.”