Partners HealthCare, which includes Partners Community HealthCare in Needham, has been named one of the nation’s 10 Top Health Systems by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. When compared with peers around the nation, Partners HealthCare and the other Thomson Reuters 10 Top Health Systems saved more lives, caused fewer medical complications, made fewer medical errors, followed recommended standards of care more closely, released patients half a day sooner on average and scored better on patient satisfaction surveys.

“Every day our doctors, nurses and care teams work to provide our patients and their families with the best and most compassionate care available,” said Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, President and CEO of Partners HealthCare. “To be recognized as one of the nation’s top health systems is a fitting tribute to our teams of caregivers and our entire Partners community.”

These 10 health systems rose to the top when researchers from the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program analyzed the performance of 285 health systems based on eight metrics:

•  In-hospital mortality

•  Medical complications

•  Patient safety

•  Average length of stay

•  30-day mortality rate (post-discharge)

•  30-day readmission rate (post discharge)

•  Adherence to clinical standards of care (evidence-based core measures published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)

•  Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient survey score (part of a national initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to measure the quality of care in hospitals)

The study evaluated U.S. health systems with two or more short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of patients. Researchers used public data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) dataset and the CMS Hospital Compare datasets. The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals program has analyzed and reported on the performance of hospitals since 1993. For more information, visit www.100tophospitals.com.

Partners HealthCare is an integrated health system founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the Partners system includes community and specialty hospitals, community health centers, a physician network, home health and long-term care services and other health-related entities. Partners HealthCare is a nonprofit organization.