The high-performing health systems ranked by Truven Health Analytics this week are leveraging information technology to enable better care with fewer complications at lower cost.

According to Truven, the 15 top health systems – whether large, medium or small – managed to outperform their peers in key categories.

They spent 7 percent less per care episode, experienced 1.2 percent fewer deaths, had 5 percent fewer complications and had a 10.9 percent better patient safety performance, with better adherence to core measures, than non-winning systems.

"Health system leaders focused on strategic performance improvement in today’s healthcare environment must determine how the process fits into their mission – and then create a plan to drive consistent progress across the entire system," according to the report. "The 2015 Truven Health 15 Top Health Systems are leading the way in accomplishing those objectives, outperforming their peers with balanced excellence across all of the hospitals in their organization."

See the next page for the full list.