Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare’s Positive Impact on Care and Community

MLH operates six hospitals, which are consistently ranked among the region’s best for their care in multiple disciplines, including cancer care. Among MLH’s many other distinctions:  

• MLH hospitals outperform area hospitals according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Compare ratings. 
• In 2020, Leapfrog awarded “A” grades in safety to four Methodist hospitals (Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital, Methodist Olive Branch Hospital, Methodist South Hospital and Methodist University Hospital).
• MLH was ranked in the top 3% of hospitals in cancer care in 2021 by The Women’s Choice Award and is accredited by the Commission on Cancer as a Comprehensive Cancer Program. 
• MLH is routinely recognized as a best employer for women and diversity, as well as a Great Place to Work. 
• MLH has directed more than $730 million in business spending toward Minority- and Women- Owned Business Enterprises and local small businesses since 1999 to support the growth and health of the Memphis economy. 
• MLH provided $229 million worth of community benefit to the greater Memphis area in 2020. (Community benefit represents charity care, offset of Medicare/TNCare shortfall, medical education and community health improvement services.) 
• In 2020, MLH became the only healthcare system in Tennessee to have earned the industry’s gold standard for quality and safety in achieving full certification of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System. 
• Despite the unpredictable financial demands of the extended COVID-19 public health crisis, MLH still raised our minimum wage to $15 per hour. 

With 13,000 Associates, Methodist is proud to be the second largest private employer in Memphis. 

Building on a legacy of excellence, in 2011, MLH entered into a seven-year affiliation with The West Clinic oncology practice group to perform clinical cancer care, management services, academic training and research services. The resulting West Cancer Center not only succeeded in achieving superior cancer care, but also expanded access to services and eased cancer treatment disparities in the mid-south. 

We are proud of what we accomplished through our affiliation with West Clinic. We set ambitious goals when we entered the partnership and met them.  

For our patients, Methodist and West Clinic: 

• Improved long-term breast, lung, uterine, and colon cancer survival outcomes. 
• Increased the number of patients screened for clinical trials and receiving genetic and molecular testing and palliative and hospice care. 
• Reduced cancer-related hospital admissions, re-admissions, and emergency room visits and admissions, as well as surgical-site infections, central-line infections, and post-op infection rates. 
• Met or exceeded national benchmarks for medical oncology, gynecologic oncology, transplants and radiation oncology, and improved long-term breast, lung, uterine and colon cancer survival outcomes. 

For our community, Methodist and West Clinic: 

• Made significant investments in health care for the Memphis community, including $138 million for uncompensated care.
• Established the Stem Cell Transplant Program, which by 2018 had exponentially increased the number of patients treated to more than 100 a year up from 10-12 a year before the affiliation.  
• The program also enabled patients to be treated in Memphis and ranked in the top 10% for survival rates in the nation.