SALEM – North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) on Tuesday was named one of the nation’s top performance improvement leader hospitals by Thomson Healthcare.NSMC and its senior management team were recognized for being one of 100 hospitals making the greatest progress in improving hospital-wide performance over five consecutive years (2001-2005).The 2006 Thomson 100 Top Hospitals Performance Improvement Leaders have set national benchmarks for improvement in clinical outcomes, safety, hospital efficiency, financial stability, and growth.”We are very proud of the progress we have made, and continue to make at both Salem and Union hospitals,” said Robert Norton, President and CEO of NSMC. “We work hard to provide exceptional care to our patients, and this recognition is a wonderful validation that we are hitting the mark.”According to Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president of 100 Top Hospitals programs, “The leadership of these hospitals and all of the people who work there have heard the national call to increase the pace of improvement for patients across the nation. Their efforts to improve performance have resulted in consistent year-over-year improvement that is among the fastest rate in the nation for this type of hospital,” she said. “This means that North Shore Medical Center has found the key to continually improving the health services for people on the North Shore.”NSMC physicians and staff have worked diligently to provide exceptional care and improve performance in recent years. Though the growth of key services, a deepening clinical partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare, and effective financial management, NSMC has demonstrated a level of excellence that qualifies it for the Top 100 hospital distinction.The study looked at all U.S. hospitals licensed to treat Medicare patients. Eight performance measures were examined at each hospital: risk-adjusted mortality and complications, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, growth in patient volume, and risk-adjusted patient safety index. The study used publicly available Medicare cost reports, MedPAR data, and CMS outpatient data from 2001 – 2005.North Shore Medical Center has also been recognized with three major awards from another healthcare ratings organization. HealthGrades, Inc., has awarded the medical center for its high standard of care with the 2008 Distinguished Hospital of Clinical Excellence (third year in a row), the 2007 Pulmonary Care Excellence and the 2007 Stroke Care Excellence awards. HealthGrades is an independent health care information company that assesses health care nationwide and provides objective report card ratings to consumers.