Report: Northern Colorado hospitals rank among nation’s best

North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley and Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins rank among the top 100 hospitals in the nation, according to rankings by Truven Health Analytics.

Truven, which has offices in Denver; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Chicago, ranked the facilities among the best teaching hospitals in the nation, according to a 63-page analysis. Truven conducts national health care research and quality assessments.

Truven’s analysis divided the top 100 into five groups: teaching, major teaching, large community, medium community and small community hospitals. The analysis looked at residency program information from the American Medical Association and the American Osteopathic Association to rank teaching hospitals. Truven evaluated a total of almost 2,800 hospitals.

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Overall, the winners had 6 percent fewer deaths than expected vs. their peers that did not appear in the rankings.

The Northern Colorado hospitals both have family medicine residencies with more than two-dozen residents at each facility.

University of Colorado Health’s Poudre Valley Hospital was recognized for the ninth year by Truven. Keeping expenses low as well as reducing readmission and hospital infection rates has helped the facility consistently rank in the top 100, hospital CEO Kevin Unger said.

“They look at a lot of different clinical outcomes,” Unger said. “We’ve been very effective in engaging our physicians and our staff around process-improvement work.”

Banner Health’s North Colorado Medical Center was recognized for the fourth year on the list. The hospital has upheld high patient safety standards even with the challenges that stem from teaching new physicians who have not yet attained board certification, said Dr. Sheldon Stadnyk, chief medical officer of North Colorado Medical Center.

“We’re able to do that while having not-yet-board certified physicians – not yet finished with their training – significantly involved in that care,” he said.

Residents learn the same safety standards at North Colorado Medical Center as other staff members, said hospital Chief Operating Officer Wendy Sparks.

“It’s a very challenging health care environment right now, but we stay focused,” she said. “We have metrics we measure weekly.”

Both hospitals had lower infection and mortality rates compared with peers and increased patient satisfaction reviews as well as excellent financial stability, according to Truven.