How socially responsible are Sacramento region’s hospitals? Check out their report cards

Only one California hospital ranked among the 10 most socially responsible hospitals in the United States: Tiny Oroville Hospital, which landed at No. 4 this year on the Lown Institute Hospitals Index.

The hospital serves a large number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries and patients with low education levels, according to the report released Tuesday by the Lown Institute, while also excelling at preventing patient errors and re-admissions, keeping mortality rates low and quality clinical outcomes and running an efficient operation.

“It’s not enough for hospitals to say they’re committed to social responsibility. They need to put their commitment into action,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. “Doing well on the Lown index is one way they can demonstrate progress.”

The hospitals topping this list are not the same as those typically seen on the honor roll of the U.S. News & World Report magazine’s Best Hospitals ranking. Hospitals on the U.S. News list generally achieved high grades on the Lown Institute’s measures for outcomes and value, but they typically received a “C” or “D” grade on equity.

Here’s the top 10 list:

1. Carepoint Health-Christ Hospital — Jersey City, N.J.

2. Saint Michael’s Medical Center — Newark, N..J.
   
   

3. Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center — Baltimore, Md.
   
   

4. Oroville Hospital — Oroville
   
   

5. University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus — Baltimore, Md.
   
   

6. UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center — Rio Rancho, N.M.
   
   

7. Mercy Hospital Clermont — Batavia, Ohio
   
   

8. Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center — Gresham, Ore.
   
   

9. Banner-University Medical Center South Campus — Tucson, Ariz.
   
   

10. East Liverpool City Hospital— East Liverpool, Ohio
    
    

Oroville Hospital ranked at No. 2 last year in the inaugural release of the index. Placerville’s Marshall Medical Center earned the top spot on the Lown Index last year but fell to No. 120 this time around.

The Lown Institute, a health care think tank, launched this index at a time when activists were protesting racial inequalities in policing and when COVID-19 was killing African Americans and Latinos at numbers disproportionately higher than their representation in the population.

Here’s how regional hospitals ranked among 3,010 hospitals around the nation: Oroville Hospital, 4; Marshall Medical Center, 120; UC Davis Medical Center-Sacramento, 175; Mercy San Juan Medical Center-Carmichael, 245; Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital, 447; Sutter Roseville Medical Center, 481; Sutter Davis Hospital, 497; St. Elizabeth Community Hospital-Red Bluff, 731; Adventist Health Lodi Memorial, 737; Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, 807; Sutter Amador Hospital, 816; Woodland Memorial Hospital, 823; Mercy General Hospital-Sacramento, 867; Mercy Hospital of Folsom, 1,067; Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital-Grass Valley, 1,219; San Joaquin General Hospital-French Camp, 1,749; St. Joseph’s Medical Center of Stockton, 1,849; Doctors Hospital of Manteca, 1,883; Methodist Hospital of Sacramento, 1,897; and Adventist Health and Rideout, 2,316.

Below, you will find the grades regional hospitals received on the Lown evaluation, with A being the highest grade a facility could receive and F being the lowest. Note that the think tank did not assess hospitals run by Medicare Advantage plans, consequently Kaiser Permanente hospitals were not graded.

The list below also shows how three California hospitals on the U.S. News Best Hospitals honor roll scored on the Lown index. The three are Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Stanford Health Care.

To learn more about the methodology for the Lown index or to see individual hospital’s report cards, visit https://lownhospitalsindex.org/rankings/.

Measuring equity

Pay equity: How well the hospital does at ensuring compensation for health care workers without advanced degrees isn’t dwarfed by what hospital executives earn

A: Adventist Health Lodi, Mercy Folsom, Sutter Amador, Sutter Auburn, Sutter Davis

B: Marshall Medical Center, Mercy General, Mercy San Juan, Methodist, Oroville Hospital, St. Elizabeth, San Joaquin General, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Roseville, Woodland Memorial

C: Adventist Rideout, Ronald Reagan UCLA, St. Joseph’s Stockton, Sutter Sacramento

D: Cedars-Sinai, Doctors Hospital, Stanford, UCD Medical Center

Community benefit: A measure of spending on charity care and other community health initiatives, as well as their service of Medicaid patients

A: Adventist Lodi, Doctors Hospital, Oroville Hospital, San Joaquin General, UCD Medical Center

B: Adventist Rideout, Marshall Medical Center, Mercy Folsom, Mercy General, Mercy San Juan, Methodist, St. Elizabeth, St. Joseph’s Stockton, Sutter Amador, Sutter Davis, Sutter Roseville, Sutter Sacramento, Woodland Memorial

C: Cedars-Sinai, Ronald Reagan UCLA, Sierra Nevada, Stanford, Sutter Auburn Faith

Inclusivity: The extent to which a hospital’s patient population reflects the demographics of the community in which it is located, based on race, income and education levels

A: Adventist Rideout, Oroville Hospital, San Joaquin General, Woodland Memorial

B: Marshall Medical Center, Mercy General, Mercy San Juan, Methodist, St. Elizabeth, St. Joseph’s Stockton, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Amador, Sutter Sacramento, UCD Medical Center

C: Adventist Lodi, Doctors Hospital, Sutter Auburn Faith, Sutter Roseville

D: Cedars-Sinai, Mercy Folsom, Ronald Reagan UCLA, Stanford, Sutter Davis

Measuring value of care

Avoiding low-value care: Does the hospital avoid delivering health care services that are more likely to harm than benefit the patient?

A: Marshall Medical Center, Oroville Hospital, Ronald Reagan UCLA, St. Elizabeth, Stanford, Sutter Auburn Faith, UCD Medical Center

B: Adventist Lodi, Adventist Rideout, Cedars-Sinai, Mercy General, Mercy San Juan, San Joaquin General, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Amador, Sutter Davis, Sutter Roseville, Sutter Sacramento

C: Doctors Hospital, Woodland Memorial

D: Mercy Folsom, Methodist, St. Joseph’s Stockton

Cost efficiency: This metric compares hospitals’ mortality rates with their Medicare costs, awarding the highest marks to those that have the lowest mortality and the lowest costs.

A: Adventist Lodi, Cedars-Sinai, Doctors Hospital, Marshall Medical Center, Mercy Folsom, Mercy General, Mercy San Juan, Oroville Hospital, Ronald Reagan UCLA, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Amador, Sutter Auburn Faith, Sutter Davis, Sutter Roseville, Sutter Sacramento, UCD Medical Center, Woodland Memorial

B: Adventist Rideout, Methodist, St. Elizabeth, St. Joseph’s Stockton, San Joaquin General, Stanford

Measuring patient outcomes

Clinical outcomes: How well does the hospital do at keeping patients alive and preventing return trips to the hospital over time?

A: Cedars-Sinai, Marshall Medical Center, Mercy Folsom, Mercy San Juan, Oroville Hospital, Ronald Reagan UCLA, Sierra Nevada, Stanford, Sutter Amador, Sutter Auburn Faith, Sutter Davis, Sutter Roseville, UCD Medical Center, Woodland Memorial

B: Adventist Lodi, Adventist Rideout, Doctors Hospital, Mercy General, Methodist, St. Elizabeth, St. Joseph’s Stockton, San Joaquin General, Sutter Sacramento

Patient safety: How does the hospital do at avoiding preventable errors?

A: Marshall Medical Center, Mercy General, Oroville Hospital, St. Elizabeth, St. Joseph’s Stockton, Sutter Roseville, Sutter Sacramento

B: Adventist Lodi, Cedars-Sinai, Mercy Folsom, Mercy San Juan, Methodist, Stanford, Sutter Auburn Faith, UCD Medical Center

C: Doctors Hospital, Ronald Reagan UCLA,

D: Adventist Rideout, San Joaquin General, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Amador, Woodland Memorial

Sutter Davis received no rating in this category. It did not have data available in three areas: central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and MRSA infections.

Patient satisfaction: How do patients rate their experience at the hospital, based on factors such as hospital quietness, cleanliness, health care staff responsiveness, and communication?

B: Adventist Lodi, Cedars-Sinai, Doctors Hospital, Marshall Medical Center, Mercy Folsom, Mercy General, Ronald Reagan UCLA, St. Elizabeth, Sierra Nevada, Stanford, Sutter Amador, Sutter Auburn Faith, Sutter Davis, Sutter Roseville, Sutter Sacramento, UCD Medical Center, Woodland Memorial

C: Mercy San Juan, Methodist, St. Joseph’s Stockton

D: Adventist Rideout, Oroville Hospital, San Joaquin General