JPS Health Network was named the best hospital in the United States, according to a new hospital evaluating system unveiled Tuesday by Washington Monthly Magazine. Ranking near the top of every category, it out-scored the most prestigious healthcare organizations in America.
You might ask yourself, “how is it possible for a public safety-net hospital to out-rank the finest private hospitals across the United States?”
“What Americans should be asking is, why can’t more hospitals be like JPS?” Washington Monthly countered in explaining its findings. “Shouldn’t every person in this country have access to a hospital that provides high-quality care, welcomes all comers regardless of wealth and insurance status, and contributes to the larger health of the community?”
Shouldn’t every person in this country have access to a hospital that provides high-quality care, welcomes all comers regardless of wealth and insurance status, and contributes to the larger health of the community?
Using a formula ten years in the making, the magazine -- in conjunction with the Lown Institute -- has created a new ranking system designed to identify hospitals that not only offer the best high-end care. It also valued ones that effectively and efficiently provide healthcare for at-need populations that don’t have insurance or financial resources for medical assistance and serve as leaders in their communities. JPS received high marks in every category of the evaluation. “The people who come to work at JPS every day don’t get up in the morning hoping to win awards or accolades,” said health network President and CEO Robert Earley. “They come here because they’re dedicated to providing the best care they can to the people of Tarrant County, regardless of their social or economic status. This recognition belongs to our team of 7,200 of the most dedicated people you could ever meet who make sure every day that the people of our community get the care they need and they deserve.”
In an era when hospitals struggle financially to survive as they battle a global pandemic, the publishers of the magazine said JPS is a shining example of how a health care institution can be most responsible to the communities they serve and effective in the care they provide. “We and the Lown Institute are confident that our new rankings reveal important realities about the performance of the nation’s hospitals,” editors of Washington Monthly explained. “We also believe that they set a better standard for what we should expect from our hospitals than any other system out there.”
According to the magazine, hospitals that do well in other ranking formulas excel at lucrative specialized treatments and procedures. They would better serve their community if they offered more comprehensive care to all who need it, as JPS does.
“Imagine, however, if hospitals were motivated to rise in our rankings,” the editors wrote. “They would compete to bring in patients from all levels of society, not just the well insured. They would find ways to get their staffs to stop performing unnecessary procedures and tests. They would try to reduce the pay differential between hospital workers and chief executives. And they would put more of their earnings into improving the conditions that affect the health of their communities. If more hospitals had done these things before the pandemic, how many Americans might have been in healthier shape to fend off the virus, or survive if they did get it?” JPS ranked in the top one percent of hospitals in civic leadership, in the top 10 percent in avoiding over-use of low-value care and the top 17 percent for quality of care.
“It sets the standard, in our estimation, of what a great hospital should be,” according to Washington Monthly.