Hospital Referral Regions or HRRs are 306 mutually exclusive regions, constructed by aggregating the residential zip codes from which Medicare beneficiaries traveled for major cardiovascular and neurological surgical procedures. Each local referral region has at least one hospital where these complex surgical procedures are performed. The HRR names reflect the location (city or town) where the referral hospital is physically located. The regions are meant to represent travel and referral patterns and thus do not align to political (county, state) boundaries and sometimes cross state borders.
The following are the top rated HRRs in the U.S. based on measures of Access, Prevention & Treatment, Potentially Avoidable Hospital Use & Cost, and Healthy Lives. Overall it is very interesting to see that many of the top HRRs are dominated by organizations focused deeply on continuous improvement and more specifically are using the lean methodology. In St. Paul, MN, by far the largest provider is Healtheast which has been working on a lean transformation. In Minneapolis, MN Park Nicolet, Minneapolis Childrens and others have been working for years on the lean transformation. In Appleton, WI and Neenah, WI Thedacare has led the charge of full lean transformation and Affinity has also been applying lean tools. In LaCrosse, WI Gunderson Lutheran has focused on continuous improvement using lean and in Cedar Rapids, IA. Mercy hospital and St.Lukes hospital who are part of the Healthcare Value Network are applying lean principles to improve performance.
1.St. Paul, MN
2.Dubuque, IA
3.Rochester, MN
4.Minneapolis, MN
5.Appleton, WI
6.Santa Rosa, CA
7.La Crosse, WI
8.St. Cloud, MN
9.Manchester, NH
10.San Mateo County, CA
11.Cedar Rapids, IA
12.Green Bay, WI
13. Lancaster, PA
14.Neenah, WI
15.Arlington, VA
It's exciting that the work many of these health systems are doing with lean is leading to healthier lower cost communities.
Read the Commonwealth article executive summary below. 1578_EXEC_SUMM_Commission_rising_to_challenge_local_scorecard_2012_FINAL1
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