The Lown Institute has named Mercy Health – Clermont Hospital the most socially responsible hospital in Ohio and the seventh most socially responsible hospital in America. The Lown Institute’s ranking is the only ranking to include equity as a major category.

Clermont Hospital earned a place on the Lown Institute’s Honor Roll by earning “A” grades in the following measures to determine overall social responsibility:

  • Health equity - commitment to inclusivity, pay equity and community investment
  • Value of care - how efficiently hospital delivers care and avoids low-value services
  • Outcomes - success at clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient satisfaction

Out of more than 3,000 hospitals that the Lown Institute studied, only 75 achieved Honor Roll status.

“It’s not enough for hospitals to say they’re committed to social responsibility. They need to put their commitment into action,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute in a news release announcing the rankings. “Doing well on the Lown Index is one way they can demonstrate progress.”

“This recognition shows that we are achieving our vision of helping our community to thrive,” said Clermont Hospital President Shane Knisley. “The Lown Institute has evaluated our effectiveness at serving our community with good value, great patient outcomes and treating everyone who comes through our doors with compassion. They recognized what we know we do each day - provide high quality care to everyone who comes in our door in times of need. I thank every member of our team for their dedication to this work and share their pride in this achievement.”

The Lown Institute named Mercy Health - West Hospital to its Best Hospitals for America list in 2020, ranking it fifth in the nation.

The Lown Institute, a health care think tank, is the first to publish a national ranking of hospital social responsibility. Now in its second year, the Index includes 54 metrics across the equity, value, and outcomes categories. The primary data source is Medicare fee-for-service claims from 2016-2018. A full methodology is available here: lownhospitalsindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021_Methodology_9-21-21.pdf

Factored into the ranking this year is a new measure of Cost Efficiency that evaluates how well hospitals achieve low mortality rates at a low cost. Performance varies widely, even among similar-sized hospitals in the same cities.