New Hanover Regional Medical Center is in the pink when it comes to successful patient outcomes, according to an article in the March 2012 issue of Business North Carolina.

The article, “Buy the Numbers,” talks about the importance of data that show how effectively hospitals treat their patients. It points to the emergence of value-based health care, which means that, under the provisions of health care reform, hospitals increasingly will be paid for how successfully they treat patients, not necessarily how often they treat them.

Accompanying the story are two “top hospital” ratings for institutions in the state. The first, which considered data from various sources on factors that contribute to healthy outcomes for patients, shows that New Hanover Regional Medical Center ranked fourth in the state.

The second listing, taken from a national patient survey conducted by the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, is called “Patient Picks.” The researchers asked patients who had an overnight or longer stay if they would recommend the hospital to family and friends. Factors the patients were asked consider ranged from their own health outcome to the hospital’s cleanliness and noise level. Among the 26 North Carolina hospitals that ranked highest on this survey, NCRMC tied for fourth. It achieved an 82 percent rating, considerably above the national average of 70 percent and the North Carolina average of 71 percent.

The highest-ranked North Carolina hospitals in this index achieved an 83 percent rating.

The article also mentioned that Blue Cross and Blue Shield has recognized NHRMC for its expertise in bariatric surgery and that U.S. News & World Report lists the medical center in its list of “standout hospitals” that perform more than the national norm in various specialties. NHRMC is mentioned in the gastroenterology and orthopedics categories.