The Number One Reason We’re Number Two

By Toby Cosgrove, MD

This has been a significant year for Cleveland Clinic. For the first time, we have been ranked the #2 hospital in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” survey.

We placed second among 5,000 hospitals evaluated, including the oldest and most prestigious names in American healthcare. How did we come to deserve this honor? NBA and Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James said it best:

“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.”

Every one of the 50,000 caregivers at Cleveland Clinic is working hard to give every patient the best outcome and experience. We call it the Power of Every One: The power to help. The power to heal. The power to change lives – beginning with your own.

We know that American healthcare is changing, and we are working hard to stay ahead of those changes.

Well before the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Cleveland Clinic was focused on quality, access and affordability. Since 2004, we have set benchmarks for every clinical service, collected volumes and outcomes data, and made this information freely available in booklets and online. Our caregivers are working hard to improve quality, safety and patient experience, and are driving steady improvements in the metrics reported to regulatory agencies.

In 2007, we made empathy a strategic goal and saw patient satisfaction scores rise dramatically.

We are making healthcare more efficient and effective by reducing variability in diagnosis and outcomes. Our caregivers have developed hundreds of evidence-based care paths to guide optimum care for everything from stroke to low back pain. Our schedulers and information technology caregivers worked hard to make it possible for us to offer same-day appointments – more than 1.2 million last year alone. We’re also offering enhanced access through walk-in clinics and one-to-one online doctor visits.

It is no coincidence that the two top-ranked hospitals in America are both not-for-profit group practices. This group practice model promotes teamwork and collaboration. At Cleveland Clinic, all of our physicians are salaried and on one-year contracts. They aren’t worried about running an office or paying malpractice insurance. They can do the things they went into medicine to do: patient care, research and education. Hard work is part of the ethos, but so is teamwork, collaboration and collegiality.

Cleveland Clinic is proud of the national recognition that comes with being so highly ranked in “America’s Best Hospitals.” I’d like to thank all of our patients, friends and supporters for helping to make this achievement possible. Being number two is cause for celebration – and reason to work that much harder for our patients and communities.

Dr. Cosgrove is CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic.