[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 5 (Monday, January 31, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 31, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
     CONGRATULATIONS TO MINNESOTA HOSPITALS HONORED IN THE TOP 100 
                    PERFORMING HOSPITALS NATIONWIDE

 Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Minnesota's hospitals. As I have stated before, Minnesota is renowned 
for its high quality health care facilities and I am proud to represent 
this progressive State. Consistently, Minnesota hospitals have had 
impressive cost figures and function within a competitive marketplace 
which only means one thing--success. It is no surprise that Minnesota 
hospitals have been honored for their excellence.
  Very recently, the Health Care Information Association [HCIA] and 
Mercer Health Care Provider Consulting released a study naming the 
``100 Top U.S. Hospitals--Benchmarks for Success.'' The study 
identified 100 of the best-performing general acute care hospitals in 
the United States, using 1992 Medicare cost report and discharge data. 
Specialty hospitals and merged facilities have been deliberately 
excluded from the study. In addition to providing noteworthy customer 
service, the benchmark hospitals chosen also operate cost-effectively 
and invest in their facilities. The study applied five different 
categories for criteria breakdown based on structural, locational, and 
functional similarities:
  Rural facilities--teaching and nonteaching--with fewer than 250 beds 
in service;
  Urban facilities--teaching and nonteaching--with fewer than 250 beds 
in service;
  Nonteaching hospitals--urban and rural--with more than 250 beds in 
service;
  Teaching hospitals--urban and rural--with more than 250 beds in 
service; and,
  All academic medical center hospitals.
  Minnesota hospitals were represented in all five categories--only one 
other State, Indiana, matched this honor. I congratulate the six 
Minnesota hospitals who were chosen for their outstanding contribution 
to the field of high quality, responsible health care. These six 
institutions have performed exceptionally well in areas reflecting high 
quality, patient-friendly, cost-efficient health care practice.
  Memorial Hospital in Cambridge, MN;
  Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville, MN;
  Rice County District One Hospital in Faribault, MN;
  Saint Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, MN;
  Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, MN;
  Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN; and,
  University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic in Minneapolis, MN.
  The importance of this study is not to be dismissed. If all hospitals 
were able to perform to the standards of the top 100 hospitals named in 
this study, the health care industry would see spectacular results; 
hospital charges would decline by $40 billion and expenses would 
decline by $28 billion; hospital average lengths of stay would drop by 
a day or more; mortality rates would drop 12 percent; and morbidity 
rates would drop 13 percent.
  As we all know, President Clinton and the Congress have placed health 
care reform squarely on the national agenda. Our limited Federal 
resources require that we design a health care system that can produce 
higher quality care for more people at lower costs. These six 
distinguished Minnesota hospitals represent the success that 
Minnesota's competitive marketplace demonstrates.
  The lesson of Minnesota are real and valuable. This study is proof 
that Minnesota's hospitals succeed in a competitive market; and the 
results are lower costs and higher quality care. Again, I congratulate 
these six impressive institutions. They serve as an example that 
Minnesota's experience can lead the way for successful, market-based 
health care reform in America.

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