FirstHealth Moore Regional named only Top 100 Hospital in North Carolina

David J. Kilarski

PINEHURST – FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital is the only hospital in North Carolina to be named one of the nation’s top hospitals in a recent industry study conducted by Truven Health Analytics, a national health care information company. This recognition includes Moore Regional Hospital-Hoke Campus in Raeford and Richmond Memorial Hospital in Rockingham as divisions of Moore Regional.

This is the second consecutive year that Moore Regional, listed in the large community hospital category, has received the 100 Top Hospitals recognition.

Hospitals do not apply to be considered for the recognition, nor do they have to pay to promote the award.

For two decades, the Truven study has evaluated hospitals on measures of overall organizational performance, including patient care, operational efficiency, financial stability and patient perception of care. The most comprehensive and academically driven study of its kind, Truven Health 100 Top Hospitals evaluates performance in 11 areas, addressing inpatient mortality; 30-day mortality rate; complications; core measures; 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rate; severity-adjusted average length of stay; mean emergency room throughput; inpatient expense per discharge; Medicare spend per beneficiary; adjusted operating profit margin; and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score (patient rating of overall hospital performance).

The 402-bed flagship hospital of FirstHealth of the Carolinas, Moore Regional received similar designations in 1995, 2003, 2004 and 2016. 

The 100 Top Hospitals recognition comes on the heels of the Business North Carolina magazine best hospital list in which Moore Regional, including its Richmond Memorial and Hoke campuses, ranked No. 5 among “best hospitals” (tied with Caromont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia) and No. 2 in “patient picks.”

“I am extremely proud of the staff at Moore Regional Hospital,” said David J. Kilarski, CEO of FirstHealth of the Carolinas.  “The board, management, medical staff, employees and volunteers have worked very hard to adjust and change in a new era of health care delivery. They all should be commended for this honor. It is quite an achievement. Everyone associated with our hospital system has proven that transformation and innovation are part of their daily routine.  And, most importantly, our patients and their families benefit from their dedication and perseverance.” 

Truven’s projections indicate that if the new national benchmarks of high performance established by hospitals such as Moore Regional Hospital were achieved by all hospitals in the United States, the following would be true:

• Nearly 89,000 additional lives could be saved in hospitals
• More than 61,000 additional patients could be complication-free
• More than $5.6 billion in inpatient costs could be saved
• The typical patient could be released from the hospital a half day sooner and would have 2 percent fewer expenses related to the complete episode of care than the median patient in the U.S.
• 300,000 fewer discharged patients would be readmitted within 30 days
• Patients could spend 9 minutes less in hospital emergency rooms per visit

This analysis is based on applying the difference between study winners and non-winners to Medicare patient counts. If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact would be even greater.

"This honor proves what we have known for quite a while,” said Kilarski, “that there is no need to look beyond FirstHealth of the Carolinas for the highest quality health care in North Carolina.”