Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center is getting some well-deserved recognition as IBM Watson Health has named the Sioux Falls medical facilities as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals.

“This award recognizes the consistent and innovative care Avera provides — no matter which of our clinics or hospitals you walk into. It’s an award that belongs to our front-line caregivers, and it’s well-deserved, especially in light of the past year of the pandemic. I’m so proud of this and other national accolades that verify the quality care that’s delivered on a day-to-day basis at all our facilities,” said Bob Sutton, President and CEO of Avera Health. “Avera has hospitals that are ranking among the top in the nation, from our smallest critical access facilities to our large tertiary care center.”

A recent press release states that the data, analytics, and technology partner IBM Watson Health, has identified top hospitals and health systems from an evaluation of 324 health systems and 2,522 hospitals. Avera was previously named to this prestigious top 15 list in 2019.

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Those recognized have achieved top performance benchmarks that may help other health care organizations achieve consistent, balanced, and sustainable high performance.

Performance indicators included:

  • Lower inpatient mortality rates and fewer patient complications, considering patient severity
  • Fewer healthcare-associated infections
  • Lower 30-day readmission rates
  • Shorter lengths of stay
  • Faster emergency care
  • Higher patient ratings of their overall hospital experience
  • Lower episode-of-care expenses for the in-hospital through the after-care process.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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