For-Profits Performed Worse On ‘most Socially Responsible’ Hospital Rankings

An article from

Dive Brief:

• For-profit hospitals received lower marks on “socially responsible” metrics compared to nonprofits in an annual index from the Lown Institute released on Tuesday. 
• For-profit hospitals were overrepresented in the lowest quality rankings on the index, which measured equity, care value and patient outcomes. Although for-profits represented 18% of acute care hospitals, they earned 36% of “D” grades. Six of the for-profit “D” grades were private equity-owned facilities.
• Over 150 hospitals achieved top “A” grades in the three “socially responsible” outcomes, notching a place on the index’s honor roll.

Dive Insight:

The nonpartisan thinktank measured more than 50 metrics at more than 2,700 acute care and 800 critical access hospitals.

Lown also broke out socially responsible metrics for top-ranked facilities on the 2024 U.S. News & World Report best hospitals list. While most of the hospitals on the U.S. News list earned “As” and “Bs” on measurements like patient outcomes and care value, only two — Mount Sinai in New York City and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore — received “A” grades in equity.

“Our rankings show there is considerable room for improvement in social responsibility, even among well-known and typically high-performing hospitals,” said Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, in a statement.

Lown’s hospital index uses publicly available data from Medicare and Medicare Advantage claims, CMS datasets and service forms from the Internal Revenue Service. 

The institute’s metrics include measures like pay equity, or the difference in compensation between hospital executives and housekeeping workers, and inclusivity, or how a hospital’s patient population reflects the demographic of the area where it’s located.

Lown also measured community benefit, or how much hospitals spend on charity care and other community investments. Nonprofits receive tax breaks in exchange for agreeing to provide discounted or free care to low-income or vulnerable patients. However, nonprofit hospitals have come under fire recently from lawmakers and researchers — including the Lown Institute — for not providing enough charity care.

Other metrics Lown recorded are value, which includes care overuse — or the overuse rates of 12 “low-value” tests and procedures —and cost efficiency, measured in the ratio of hospitals’ mortality rates compared to Medicare costs.

Lown began compiling its hospital index in 2020, billing itself as the first organization to evaluate metrics of social responsibility alongside traditional patient outcomes.

Other organizations followed suit. In 2021, U.S. News & World Report, which releases a coveted annual list of best hospitals, said it would begin including measurements related to health equity. This year, U.S. News published its ranking of the top hospitals serving vulnerable communities.

These are Lown’s 20 most socially responsible acute care hospitals in 2024:

1. Duke Regional Hospital (Durham, N.C.)
2. Baylor Scott & White Medical Center (Pflugerville, Texas)
3. UCHealth Greeley Hospital (Greeley, Colo.)
4. Adventist Health Ukiah Valley (Ukiah, Calif.)
5. UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center (Rio Rancho, N.M.)
6. Suburban Community Hospital (Norristown, Pa.)
7. Cedar City Hospital (Cedar City, Utah)
8. Methodist Medical Center (Oak Ridge, Tenn.)
9. St. Luke’s Hospital — Upper Bucks Campus (Quakertown, Pa.)
10. Sonoma Valley Health Care District (Sonoma, Calif.)
11. Providence Newburg Medical Center (Newberg, Ore.)
12. Fort Loudoun Medical Center (Lenoir City, Tenn.)
13. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center — Ontario (Ontario, Ore.)
14. LDS Hospital (Salt Lake City, Utah)
15. St. Luke’s Hospital — Easton Campus (Easton, Pa.)
16. CommonSpirit — St. Anthony Summit Hospital (Frisco, Colo.)
17. Park City Hospital (Park City, Utah)
18. St. Luke’s Hospital — Miners Campus (Coaldale, Pa.)
19. Stillwater Medical Center (Stillwater, Okla.)
20. Southern California Hospital at Hollywood (Hollywood, Calif.)