ST. JOSEPH — Spectrum Health Lakeland was named one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems by IBM Watson Health. The study spotlights the best-performing health systems in the U.S., based on a balanced scorecard of publicly available clinical, operational and patient satisfaction metrics and data.

This year’s 15 Top Health Systems study evaluated 337 health systems and 2,961 member hospitals to identify the 15 U.S. health systems with the highest overall achievement on a balanced scorecard. The scorecard is based on the 100 Top Hospitals national balanced scorecard methodologies and focuses on five performance domains: inpatient outcomes, process of care, extended outcomes, efficiency, and patient experience.

This is the second time Spectrum Health Lakeland has been recognized with the 15 Top Health Systems honor. Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph and Lakeland Hospital Niles were also named to the 100 Top Hospitals list in 2014 and 2019.

“We are proud to be the only health system in Michigan and northern Indiana recognized in the top 15 by IBM Watson,” said Loren B. Hamel, MD, president, Spectrum Health Lakeland. “Over the last decade, we have been on a journey to provide quality, compassionate care to our friends and neighbors and this award is a direct reflection of this great work.”

Based on extrapolating the results of this year’s study, if all similarly-situated Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those treated in the award-winning facilities:

• More than 60,000 additional lives could be saved

• More than 26,000 additional patients could be complication-free

• Healthcare-associated infections would be reduced by 10 percent

• Patients would spend 38 minutes less in hospital emergency rooms per visit

“The multi-year trend toward increased healthcare consolidation has shined a spotlight on health system performance, illuminating both the challenges of coordinating care across multiple facilities and the opportunities that can come with scale,” said Ekta Punwani, 100 Top Hospitals program leader at IBM Watson Health. “The institutions recognized in the IBM Watson Health 15 Top Health Systems study are providing a blueprint for how to improve quality, lower costs and achieve outstanding patient satisfaction on a consistent basis.”

For more information, or to see a complete list of winners, visit 100tophospitals.com.

Spectrum Health Lakeland is a nonprofit, community-owned health system serving southwest Michigan and northern Indiana. Spectrum offers a full continuum of care and wellness services including three hospitals, an outpatient surgery center, a cancer center, and 41 physician practices. Lakeland is a division of Spectrum Health with 30,000 professionals, 4,100 medical staff experts, 3,200 volunteers and a health plan serving 1 million members. Lakeland was named a 100 Top Hospital by IBM Watson Health in 2019.

Watson Health is a business unit of IBM that is dedicated to the development and implementation of cognitive and data-driven technologies to advance health. Watson Health technologies are seeking to tackle a wide range of the world’s biggest health care challenges, including cancer, diabetes, drug discovery and more.