News Release for Community Value Award

SLVRMC was recently recognized as one of the top ranked Community Value hospitals in the US by Cleverley & Associates (Columbus, OH). Cleverley & Associates, a leading healthcare financial consulting firm specializing in operational benchmarking and performance enhance strategies, released the findings as part of its new publication: The State of the Hospital Industry — 2006 Edition.

Written by William O. Cleverley, Ph.D., a noted expert in healthcare finance, the State of the Hospital Industry reports selected measures of hospital financial performance and discusses the critical factors that lie behind them. The publication focuses on the US acute care hospital industry over a three-year time period (2002-2004).

For the third year, the 2006 State of the Hospital Industry reports an exclusive measure developed by Cleverley & Associates: the Community Value Index (CVI). The CVI is a proprietary index created to offer a measure of the value that a hospital provides to its community. The book outlines the data used to calculate the CVI as well as provides a list of the top 100 and all “five-star” (top quintile) hospitals.

“The topic of healthcare value is increasingly being discussed.  Recent highlights on hospital performance and pricing have driven the dialogue; however, interested parties have been looking for objective information regarding the issues”, adds James Cleverley, co-author. “In response, the Community Value Index was created to provide an assessment of a hospital’s performance in three areas: financial strength and reinvestment, cost of care, and pricing.  Fundamentally, the CVI suggests that hospitals that are low cost, low charge, and use financial resources efficiently for reinvestment back into the provision of healthcare are operating with a high degree of community value.”

ABOUT CLEVERLEY & ASSOCIATES

Cleverley & Associates is a Columbus, Ohio-based healthcare data and consulting services firm specializing in custom data analyses and reporting for healthcare providers, consultants, and vendors. The company’s primary focus is to provide healthcare providers with solutions and recommendations that will enhance their financial performance through better pricing decisions; improved coding, capital restructuring, cost and productivity enhancements; and/or investment management changes. For more information, call Cleverley & Associates at 888-779-5663 or visit www.cleverleyassociates.com.

Last Modified: August 24, 2007