a healthy score

This Fort Worth hospital ranks No. 1 in the nation, says new report

JPS ranks first in the nation.

Getty Images

A new report ranks one Fort Worth hospital as the very best in the U.S. when it comes to serving patients and the community as a whole.

Brookline, Massachusetts-based think tank The Lown Institute has unveiled its Lown Institute Hospitals Index, which evaluated more than 3,000 U.S. hospitals based on civic leadership (inclusion and access), value of care, and patient outcomes (safety and satisfaction) using data from a variety of sources.

Fort Worth's JPS Health Network ranks No. 1 on the list of the top U.S. hospitals overall. JPS received an A+ for civic leadership, an A for value of care, and an A for patient outcome, for an overall A+ grade.

"At a time when communities are relying on them like never before, hospitals must rethink what it means to be great," says Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, in a news release. "COVID-19 highlights how hospitals are essential community partners for anyone in need. To be great, however, a hospital cannot only provide care that's high in quality. It must also deliver value and advance equality. Our index is designed to help them do just that."

The report also provides a breakdown of the best hospitals in the Fort Worth area. Those scoring an A- or better are:

JPS Health Network, A+
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital — Cleburne, A+
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital — Stephenville, A+
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital — Azle, A+
Baylor Scott and White All Saints Medical Center, A
Texas Health Huguley Hospital Fort Worth South — Burleson, A-
Texas Health HEB — Bedford, A-

Three other Texas hospitals appear among the top 10 in the nation: Seton Northwest Hospital in Austin at No. 4, Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center in Houston at No. 9, and Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas at No. 10.

The point of the study, according to the release, is to hold hospitals accountable for more than just one factor of success.

"No other hospital ranking provides a 360-degree view of hospital performance," says Shannon Brownlee, senior vice president at the Lown Institute, in the release.

"Many of the best-known hospitals score highly on patient outcomes but poorly on civic leadership and value of care. Our data show that it's possible to do well in all three categories, because some hospitals are doing it. That means all the people in their communities are being served effectively and fairly."

---

A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.com.

lists rankings health

Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

Christopher Turner

A man received the death penalty for his 2020 cold-blooded execution of a convenience store owner.

According to a release from the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Christopher Karon Turner, 48, to death on November 20 for executing convenience store owner Anwar Ali during a robbery. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Charles Boulware and Allenna Bangs represented the state.

On March 27, 2020, at around 6:15 am, Turner, a convicted felon, wore a surgical mask and a glove and entered the Super Big Country Mart in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County south of Fort Worth. There, he held a gun to the back of Anwar Ali, the 62-year-old store owner, and walked him through the store.

Ali did everything Turner demanded, including opening the cash register to give him money. And yet Turner forced Ali into the bathroom and onto his knees, and shot him in the neck. Ali was discovered, dead in the bathroom, about an hour later.

Turner fled the store in Ali's Toyota minivan with the money from the register and Ali's wallet. In the van, he found more than $50,000 cash in a black bag. Over the next few days, Turner went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, drugs, clothes, and more. He and others used cash and a credit card that belonged to Ali.

Turner fled to Colorado where U.S. Marshals arrested him. On his body they found a firearm which was determined to be the murder weapon.

"This was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder," Boulware told the jury. "From the moment he was charged with this crime, he has tried to escape responsibility."

Bangs noted that before this trial began, Turner obtained the names of jurors and their telephone numbers, and gave them to an inmate charged with murder. At the trial on November 20, as Bangs addressed the jury, Turner tried to hold up a sign to the jury but was handcuffed by Sheriff's deputies who removed him from the courtroom, while he yelled out "she lied."

Ali came to the United States from Pakistan decades ago to pursue the American dream. Ali's son, Hussein, spoke in the courtroom after the death penalty was announced. "Thank you for giving us justice," Ali said. "I hope there are no more devils like this person."