With a storied history spanning more than 125 years, Evansville, Indiana-based Deaconess Health System cares for patients in 26 counties across Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. Its more than 40 sites include seven hospitals, a freestanding cancer center, urgent care and integrated primary care services, and more than 30 other care sites. This year, Deaconess has more to be proud about than ever.

Deaconess Health System has been named a 2019-20 Best Hospital by U.S. News and World Report. For the second year in a row, Deaconess was ranked the #2 hospital in Indiana, out of more than 160 statewide. The Best Hospitals list is an important quality marker, used by patients and providers alike in deciding where to seek care. U.S. News and World Report has been releasing these rankings for 30 years. This year’s national survey evaluated 4,500 hospitals.

The health system also received honors for excellence in specific specialties and conditions. Deaconess was recognized as high performing in adult urology, with the best ranking within 150 miles. It also earned the highest possible quality rating in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), colon cancer surgery, heart failure, and knee replacement surgery.

Nationwide, hospitals spend more than $30 billion on blood acquisition and transfusion-associated costs.[1] At the same time, 40 to 60 percent of blood transfusions are avoidable or unnecessary.[2] As a health system, their goal was to improve patient safety by reducing avoidable blood transfusions, while decreasing costs at the same time. Thus in 2017, Deaconess partnered with Accumen to implement a comprehensive patient blood management (PBM) system.

Working together, Accumen and Deaconess used a data-driven approach to identify the optimal level of blood product use. Next, Accumen partnered with Deaconess to improve processes and standardize practices across the health system. As a result, Deaconess exceeded every one of its targets for patient blood management.

“Having partnered with Deaconess for more than two years, we know firsthand how committed the organization is to excellence in patient safety and clinical outcomes,” said Joe Thomas, National Director, Clinical Optimization. “We are delighted that Deaconess has been recognized in this year’s U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals list.”

Congratulations, Deaconess. We’re proud to be your partner.

Learn more about Deaconess Health System

[1] Shander A, Ozawa S, Hofmann A. Activity -based costs of plasma transfusion in medical and surgical inpatients at a US hospital. Vox Sanguinis. 2016.

[2] Transfus Med Rev. 2011 Jul;25(3):232-246.