Hospitals Are Rated Top to Bottom
There is more and more information being looked at regarding hospitals and their performance. Now it is being released to the public on various websites that show which hospitals do the best work and keep patients safest and which are not.
For example, one particular website, HealthGrades.com, includes valuable information about mortallity rates and complication rates about every U..S. hospital.
If your mom has a stroke, wouldn't you want to take her to the absolute best hospital available that would give her the highest chance of complete recovery? Of course you would. Why not look at some of the web sites that examine the hospitals and let those hospitals - and us - know how well they are doing taking care of their patients.
Written in everyday language, there’s also a wide array of information at your fingertips about stroke, heart attacks, hip replacement and just about every medical issue that your family could face.
In a recent study, HealthGrades carefully analyzed nearly 41 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2005 to 2007.
The study found that only 5 percent of U.S. hospitals meet quality clinical standards to receive a HealthGrades’ designation as a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence.
An estimated 152,666 lives could have been saved and 11,772 complications could have been avoided had all Medicare patients been treated at a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence, the study found. In addition, these elite hospitals have mortality rates that are on average 27 percent lower, and complication rates that are on average 8 percent lower, than the U.S. average.
If you had the choice to take your mother to a hospital where mortality rates are 27 percent lower than average, wouldn’t you take her there?
HealthGrades also provides “star ratings,” which are quality ratings of 26 procedures and treatments for virtually every hospital in the country. Each hospital receives a star rating based on its patient outcomes for mortality or complication rates for each procedure or treatment.
Do your homework. Make sure where the best hospitals are in advance.
