Toby's Take: Doing the Right Thing Gets Noticed

TV viewers of a certain age will remember the Big 3.

For years, Americans got their nightly news from ABC, NBC and CBS, with 24-hour cable channels CNN, FOX and MSNBC still in the future.

Before the Internet and All Things Digital, there was a Big 3 in the news magazine world, too: Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. They’re mostly online now with limited print editions found in libraries, bookstores and airports.

I read Newsweek as a high school and college student. But I’m a lot more familiar with what we simply call “U.S. News” today. That periodical is known for its lists, and we pay attention when the healthcare list comes out each summer.

U.S. News had nice things to say about The University of Kansas Health System. And frankly, we earned every word.

“Recognition by U.S. News is an incredible honor for our team,” said Tammy Peterman, MS, RN, FAAN, president, Kansas City Division, and health system executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer.

Peterman, health system president and CEO Bob Page and our chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Stites, recently held a celebration when the annual rankings were announced.

The University of Kansas Health System is once again ranked the Best Hospital in Kansas City and the Best Hospital in Kansas.

As a relative newcomer, I was thinking it appropriate for Peterman, Page and Stites to drop their mics and walk off the stage.

1. They wouldn’t dare because they take no ranking or listing for granted.
2. They needed to stay up there and detail why we’ve been ranked No. 1 in both categories since U.S. News started publishing these results.

Plus, the microphone would have been pretty battered by the time the half-hour announcement concluded.

In addition to the Best Hospital ranking, the health system distinguished itself with 8 specialties that ranked in the U.S. News Top 50 in the nation. That’s the top 1% of more than 4,500 hospitals in the America.

In alphabetical order:

• Cancer (#46). It is the 11^th time this program has been recognized in the top 50 in the nation.
• Cardiology and Heart Surgery (#47). It is the 14^th time this program has been recognized in the top 50 in the nation.
• Diabetes and Endocrinology (#46). This specialty has been nationally ranked 8 times.
• Ear, Nose and Throat (#27). It’s the 12^th time this program has been recognized in the top 50 in the nation.
• Geriatrics (#31). This is the 12^th time geriatrics has made the list as one of the top 50 in the nation.
• Neurology and Neurosurgery (#28). This specialty was listed for the 11^th consecutive year as one of the top 50 in the nation.
• Pulmonology and Lung Surgery (#32). This specialty was ranked in the nation’s top 50 for the 13^th year in a row.
• Urology (#39). Urology made the list as one of the nation’s top 50 for the 11^th time.

Two specialties scored in the “High Performing” category, basically in the top 10% across the country:

• Gastroenterology and GI surgery
• Orthopedics

U.S. News also recognized The University of Kansas Health System for a whole host of common adult procedures as “High Performing.”

• Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA repair)
• Aortic valve surgery
• Back surgery (spinal fusion)
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Colon cancer surgery
• Diabetes
• Heart attack
• Heart bypass surgery
• Heart failure
• Hip fracture
• Hip replacement
• Kidney failure
• Knee replacement
• Lung cancer surgery
• Maternity care
• Ovarian cancer surgery
• Pneumonia
• Prostate cancer surgery
• Stroke
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement
• Uterine cancer surgery

The point here is not to list these recognitions for bragging rights. I mean, I might want to brag on my colleagues for being the best in the biz. The point is to achieve these recognitions after the fact.

Peterman said it better: “We do not get these things because we applied for them. And we don’t chase trophies. Ever. When great news comes our way, we accept it gracefully and humbly because we know that’s a reflection that we just want to do the right thing every single day.”

That’s really the only way we’ve dominated the yearly rankings. If we set out to win awards first, we’d be taking our eye off the real prize. And that’s patient quality, no exceptions. Put another way, if the U.S News rankings went away tomorrow, we would be striving to achieve the same excellent patient outcomes.

Although it’s a pretty good bet people would keep noticing.