St. John’s Named the Nation’s Top Integrated Health System

"Our physicians and co workers are what make St. John's what it is today, and we thank them  for their efforts."                           - Kim Day, St. John's CEO

 

St. John's recently topped the list of integrated health networks in the United States in the 2007 Verispan assessment of integrated health care networks.

The ranking appeared in the Feb. 5, 2007 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

St. John’s has steadily climbed the list in recent years, moving from No. 62 in 1999 to 15th in 2006 and then to No. 1 in 2007.

“Being an integrated health care system allows us to fulfill our mission most effectively by providing high-quality, compassionate health care services and improving the health status of the communities we serve,” says Kim Day, president and CEO. “For the patients we serve in the 35 counties in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas, being an integrated system assists us in enhancing clinical quality, service to our patients and creating a safer patient environment.”

Integrated networks like St. John’s are able to provide patient care in a coordinated manner – sharing quality standards, information, expertise and technology that are difficult to provide alone. This coordination of health care processes helps save lives and reduce the cost of health care.
Versipan has ranked health care networks for 10 years. Its rating system evaluates each network's ability to operate as a unified organization in each of eight categories: integration, integrated technology, contractual capabilities, outpatient utilization, financial stability, services and access, hospital utilization and physicians.

“The high level of integration at St. John’s Health System between physicians, hospitals and health plans has resulted in marked improvement in clinical outcomes, especially for patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma and congestive heart failure,” says Dominic Meldi, M.D., St. John’s Health System board chairman. Dr. Meldi also serves as chief of staff at St. John’s Hospital.

Health care integration became a powerful trend in the U.S. in the early 1990s. St. John’s became an integrated system in 1994 when Smith-Glynn-Callaway Clinic physicians approached the hospital about joining forces to better serve the community. More than 100 other local physicians followed suit, and St. John’s Health System was formed.

“We believed we could serve the community’s health care needs better if the hospital, physician and health plans organizations were fully integrated and working together with patients,” explains Walter J. Gaska, M.D., St. John’s Clinic president, Springfield division.

“Our physicians and co-workers are what make St. John’s what it is today, and we thank them for their efforts,” Day says. “They work tirelessly to provide high-quality and efficient health care to patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”

For more information, and to see the top 100 networks, please visit www.verispan.com.

“Being an integrated health care system allows us to fulfill our mission most effectively by providing high-quality, compassionate health care services and improving the health status of the communities we serve.”