HCA Healthcare's Mountain Division earns third straight 15 Top Health Systems® honor

HCA Healthcare’s Mountain Division, which serves 1.5 million annual patient interactions in Utah, Idaho and Alaska, was once again recognized as one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems® according to an independent analysis by Premier, Inc.

The award-winning network made the prestigious list in 2023, 2024 and again in 2024. The Mountain Division is part of HCA Healthcare, and is comprised of 11 acute care hospitals, a behavioral health campus, six satellite emergency departments and over 100 sites of care in all. The Utah care network, known locally as MountainStar Healthcare, and Alaska Regional Hospital are proud to belong to the Mountain Division.

“This latest honor shows yet again that our 10,000 colleagues and 4,000 providers are bound together by a mission to improve lives and care for people,” said Evan Ray, president of the Mountain Division. “We’re so proud of the message these three straight years as a top health system say to the Alaskans and Utahns who trust us with their care.”

Network leaders say that the Mountain Division elevates the level of care in the communities it serves by connecting patients to the knowledge and best practices from HCA Healthcare’s 44 million annual patient encounters. The 11 hospitals have introduced several first-in-market care capabilities and have robust surgical robotics programs.

“We hope to inspire even more families in our local communities to benefit from our commitment to quality, our cutting-edge capabilities and the support from a national healthcare leader,” Ray added.

The 15 Top Health Systems® study is based on a balanced scorecard utilized for 17 years and which consists of a variety of measures distributed across four pillars: clinical outcomes, extended outcomes, operational and patient experience. Participation in the study is not application-based, and award winners do not pay to market their honor. Data leveraged by the annual study is made publicly available to increase transparency of performance for all health systems.

This year’s analysis compared the study’s top performing health systems to a peer group of similar health systems and found that Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems® recipients delivered better outcomes while operating more efficiently. Compared to their peers, this year’s top performers achieved:

• 22 percent fewer inpatient deaths than peer health systems.
• 21.6 percent fewer patients with complications.
• 17.4 percent fewer healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
• 0.5-day shorter average length of stay.
• A better patient experience at top performing hospitals compared to peer hospitals, with a top-box Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score of 71.3 percent versus 68.6 percent at peer health systems.

“Achieving Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems® designation is an honor and shows a health system’s commitment to improving enterprise operations, quality and patient-centered care,” said David Zito, Premier’s President of Performance Services. “As one of the 15 Top Health Systems®, HCA Healthcare’s Mountain Division has achieved high-quality healthcare with the execution of innovative strategies that have directly impacted patient outcomes, with fewer readmissions and complications.”