USC VERDUGO HILLS HOSPITAL

1. Top 10 Disparities

2. Equity Plan

USC Verdugo Hills Hospital (VHH) is an acute care facility with 140 beds serving Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, and the Foothill communities for over 40 years. The hospital provides comprehensive clinical services across many specialties and has expanded key programs in orthopaedic surgery, gynecologic urology, and comprehensive breast care. VHH earned designation as a Primary Stroke Center and continued its designation as an Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics. Patients benefit from access to cutting-edge treatments and access to renowned Keck Medicine of USC specialists, ensuring advanced, person-centered care. The hospital’s commitment to quality, safety, and clinical innovation are demonstrated through national recognition of honors such as the Emergency Department Lantern Award, Practice Transition Accreditation Program (PTAP) designation, an Echocardiography and Vascular Labs that is accredited by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission, Leapfrog Safety Grade A distinction, the ICU Beacon Award for Excellence, and Center of Physical Therapy Excellence designation and its recognition as a “Great Community Hospital” by Becker’s Hospital Review.
Action Plan: VHH’s analysis of the HCAI Hospital Equity Report for calendar year 2024 highlights its commitment to equitable patient care, as the Top 10 report did not uncover substantial variations between patient populations. Analysis highlighted opportunities to improve patient experience, particularly when receiving written information and education upon discharge and likelihood to recommend.
Variances in readmissions and patient experience are tracked to understand opportunities to ensure the highest quality of care and patient experience for all patients. Insights from these data guide targeted interventions, continuous quality improvement, and accountability across the hospital.
To address communication and education opportunities, VHH is enhancing its multifaceted, hospital-wide approach to patient care and experience. These processes are designed to support patients, strengthen care coordination, and ensure that all interventions are aligned with organizational priorities: high quality person-centered care, patient safety, effective treatment, access to care, and attention to social drivers of health.

Key processes include: Screening for Social Drivers of Health (SDOH), Standardized Discharge Education, Post-Discharge Follow-Up As Needed, Multidisciplinary Care Coordination, Patient and Family Feedback Integration, Age Friendly Framework Adoption, Variance Monitoring
Collectively, these efforts are designed to reduce variances, improve clinical outcomes, and enhance the overall patient experience. By leveraging data-driven insights, patient feedback, and ongoing evaluation, VHH is able to measure progress, identify emerging opportunities, and continuously refine interventions. The result is a healthcare environment where every patient receives high-quality, safe, and personalized care, and where the organization can be confident that improvement initiatives are creating meaningful, measurable impact across all populations.
Measuring Success: VHH has an existing interprofessional structure to review stratified clinical data, patient experience data, and operational metrics. This enables the hospital to identify and address key opportunities to reduce barriers to care, improve quality and safety practices, and strengthen care coordination.
To ensure that improvement efforts achieve their intended outcomes without creating unintended consequences, VHH monitors a comprehensive set of success measures. Hospital leadership and quality committees review stratified data regularly, and patient and family insights are incorporated to guide refinements. This structured oversight ensures that interventions are effective, sustainable, and aligned with the hospital’s goals of reducing variances, improving outcomes, and delivering exceptional care experiences. Progress on improvement plans is evaluated at 30-, 60-, and 90-day intervals, and will be measured throughout CY 2026.
Key measures include: Readmission Rates, Patient Experience Measures, SDOH Screening Rates, Targeted Service Line and Population Performance, Adverse Events and Safety Incidents
By monitoring these measures alongside process interventions and outcomes, VHH is able to continuously refine care delivery, anticipate patient needs, and address barriers proactively. This approach ensures that improvement initiatives not only reduce variances and readmissions but also enhance the overall patient experience, promote safety, and strengthen care coordination, reflecting the hospital’s commitment to the high-quality, person-centered care.

3. Structural Measures

4. Web Address for Equity Report

https://www.keckmedicine.org/health-equity

5. Download Equity Measures Report

Click on the link below to download the equity measures report.

6. Looking for Related Reports?

• Hospital Supplier Diversity Plan
• Community Benefit Plan
• Hospital Fair Billing Policies
• Hospital Profile