FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWTON-WELLESLEY IS NAMED TOP 100 HOSPITAL FOR FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW

NEWTON, Mass. (March, 2006) – In a recently released health care industry study, Newton-Wellesley Hospital was named as one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals that has achieved a level of excellence in clinical outcomes, efficiency of operations, financial performance, and growth of patient volume. This is the fourth consecutive year Newton-Wellesley Hospital has been recognized as one of the 100 Top Hospitals.

The 2006 study, 100 Top Hospitals®: National Benchmarks for Success, was conducted by Solucient, an Evanston, Ill.-based health care information company, and is based solely on objective, quantitative performance data consistent across all U.S. hospitals. Data are analyzed in groups based on hospital size and teaching status. Newton-Wellesley is one of only five hospitals in Massachusetts to receive this status, and one of only 20 similar sized hospitals in the country.

“Everyone at Newton-Wellesley has been whole-heartedly engaged in achieving a high level of organizational excellence to better serve our community,” said Michael Jellinek, MD, President, Newton-Wellesley Hospital. “The compassion and commitment of our physicians, nurses and staff directly resulted in this honor. It is gratifying to have our efforts objectively acknowledged within the healthcare industry.”

Research showed:

The 100 Top Hospitals have higher survival rates, keep more patients complication-free, and attract more patients—all while maintaining higher profits. Solucient estimates that if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those in the 100 Top Hospitals winners:

· More than 100,000 additional patients would survive each year
· More than 114,000 patient complications would be avoided annually
· Expenses would decline by an aggregate $10.9 billion a year
· The average patient stay would decrease by more than half a day

The study analyzed the nation's hospitals using empirical performance data from the Medicare MEDPAR aggregated claims database and other publicly available sources. This methodology ensures that the focus is on statistical rather than anecdotal evidence of top performance.

Nine measures were used to determine performance: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, patient safety, core measures average, growth in patient volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, expense per adjusted discharge, profitability, and cash to debt ratio.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a full system member of Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (PHCS), a nonprofit organization that includes acute care hospitals Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's/Faulkner Hospitals, The North Shore Medical Center, and specialty hospitals McLean Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, as well as Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare, and the community-based doctors and hospitals of Partners Community HealthCare, Inc.
 
Newton-Wellesley Hospital provides a wide range of services, including medical, surgical, obstetrical, orthopaedic, neonatal, pediatric and psychiatric care. Newton-Wellesley has been serving its community for over a century. The medical staff of the Hospital includes nearly 1,000 physicians practicing a full range of specialties. NWH is a major teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine and also has established post-graduate training programs for Harvard Medical School residents.

CONTACT: 
Rachel Kagno
Public Affairs & Marketing
Newton-Wellesley Hospital
617-243-6528
rkagno@partners.org