Woodland Heights Medical Center Recognized as One of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals

4/9/2025

Lufkin, Texas (April 8, 2025) – Woodland Heights Medical Center has been named as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Premier, Inc., who performed an independent quality analysis.

“This recognition is a testament to our mission to be the leader in service excellence and quality,” states Jose Echavarria, CEO of Woodland Heights Medical Center. “I am so proud of our team for the compassionate care they provide our patients each day.”

This year’s analysis compared the study’s top performing hospitals to a peer group of similar hospitals and found that Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals® delivered better outcomes while operating more efficiently. Compared to their peers, this year’s top performers achieved:

• 39 percent fewer inpatient deaths than peer hospitals
• 26.5 percent fewer patients with complications
• 32 percent fewer healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
• 18 percent lower inpatient expense per discharge
• 0.4-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 73 percent versus 68 percent at peer hospitals.

These outcomes add up to meaningful differences. According to the study’s analysis, if all hospitals operated at the level of this year’s top performers, more than 331,000 additional lives could have been saved, over 611,000 additional patients could have been complication-free and more than $15.1 billion in inpatient costs could have been saved for the 2025 study year.

This analysis is based on Medicare patients included in this study. If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact could have been even greater.

“Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals® program recognizes the dedication of our nation’s top hospitals to consistently deliver high-quality care while working to continuously improve quality, patient experience and operational efficiency,” said David Zito, Premier’s president of performance services. “The program’s transparent, non-biased and actionable data helps set critical benchmarks for hospitals nationwide and enables leaders to make data-driven decisions that benefit patients and the health of communities we serve.”

Woodland Heights Medical Center Chief of Staff Dr. Karina Urquia (center) holds the 100 Top Hospitals® award alongside Chief Nursing Officer Allison Cain and CEO Jose Echavarria.

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