VCU Health System named among nation's top hospitals

By Michael Ford
University News Services

RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System announced today that it has been named one of the top hospital systems in the nation by consumers, according to a survey conducted by the National Research Corporation ranking hospitals based on quality and image for overall health care services.

VCUHS’s Medical College of Virginia Hospitals and Physicians and Henrico Doctors’ Hospital are co-winners for the Richmond market and represent two of the three award recipients for the entire Commonwealth.

"We are especially proud of this ranking because it is based on consumers’ assessments of how well we are doing our job," said Dr. Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth University and chairman of the VCU Health System. "To be included among some of the nation’s most respected health care systems is a distinct and very gratifying honor."

VCUHS shares this top ranking with 120 other hospital systems nationwide, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Duke University Medical Center. This is the third time in the six years that NRC has conducted the survey that VCUHS has received this prestigious honor. VCUHS received the award twice in 1999 – for Heart Care Services and Overall Excellence.

In addition, U.S. News & World Report has recognized VCUHS in the past for leadership in neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, respiratory disorders, digestive tract, rehabilitation and gynecology. VCUHS also is a recognized leader in early diagnosis and treatment of chest pain and strokes, organ transplant, head and spinal cord trauma research, burn and wound healing, neonatal intensive care and genetic research and for its multidisciplinary centers for cancer, cardiology, neurosurgery and transplantation.

Winners have been selected based on results from the 2001 NRC Healthcare Market Guide study of more than 150,000 households, representing 400,000 consumers in markets throughout the United States. The announcement will appear in an upcoming issue of Modern Healthcare.

Founded in 1981, NRC specializes in health-care performance measurement. The 2001 Healthcare Market Guide is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind; no other study used to rate hospitals contains more consumer responses. The nationally syndicated study is conducted annually to compile consumer assessments of their health plans, personal physicians, local hospitals and health systems as well as their current health status.

The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.2 percent at a national level. Co-winners are named when scores fall within the statistical margin of error for a given market.