St. Luke's Hospital has been recognized as a Community Value 5-star Hospital by Cleverly & Associates.

St. Luke’s Hospital was recently recognized as one of the top ranked Community Value hospitals in the US by Cleverley & Associates (Columbus, OH). Cleverley & Associates, a leading healthcare financial consulting firm specializing in operational benchmarking and performance enhancement strategies, released the findings as part of its new publication: The State of the Hospital Industry — 2005 Edition.

“We are extremely pleased to be recognized in the top 20 hospitals in North Carolina that received the designation as a Community Value Index Five-Star Hospital,” said Cameron Highsmith, chief executive officer of St. Luke’s Hospital. St. Luke’s ranked within the top 20 percent of all hospitals in the United States.

The State of the Hospital Industry reports selected measures of hospital financial performance and discusses the critical factors that lie behind them. Written by William O. Cleverley, Ph.D., a noted expert in healthcare finance, the publication focuses on the US acute care hospital industry over a three-year time period (2001-2003).

For the second year, the 2005 State of the Hospital Industry reports an exclusive measure developed by Cleverley & Associates: the Community Value Index (CVI). The CVI is a proprietary index created to offer a measure of the value that a hospital provides to its community. The book outlines the data used to calculate the CVI as well as provides a list of the top 100 and all “five-star” (top quintile) hospitals.

“The topic of healthcare value is increasingly being discussed.  Recent highlights on hospital performance and pricing have driven the dialogue; however, interested parties have been looking for objective information regarding the issues”, adds James Cleverley, co-author.

“In response, the Community Value Index was created to provide an assessment of a hospital’s performance in three areas: financial strength and reinvestment; cost of care; and pricing.  Fundamentally, the CVI suggests that hospitals that are low cost, low charge, and use financial resources efficiently for reinvestment back into the provision of healthcare are operating with a high degree of community value.”

St. Luke’s Hospital is a private, not-for-profit community hospital dedicated to providing exceptional care, close to home.