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New Report Shows Gaps in Quality at 5,000 American Hospitals

An analysis of patient outcomes at nearly 5,000 American hospitals shows a continued gap in quality among hospitals.

According to the HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America report, patients had a 73 percent lower risk of dying at 5-star rated hospitals when compared with patients at 1-star rated hospitals. In fact, 240,040 Medicare patients lives could potentially have been saved if all hospitals performed at the level of the 5-star rated hospitals over the three-year study period,

“Patients are increasingly demanding objective clinical quality measures on which to base their healthcare decisions,” said Kerry Hicks, HealthGrades chief executive officer, in a news release. Through its annual reports, Hicks said the company continues its goal of empowering patients across the nation to create their best possible healthcare experience.

The 2011 Healthcare Consumerism and Hospital Quality in America report analyzed objective mortality and complication rates across 27 different medical procedures and diagnoses, at all of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals.

Researchers used 40 million hospitalization records for this annual report, obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HealthGrades hospital ratings are independently created, with hospitals not being allowed to opt-in or opt-out of being rated. Also, hospitals can’t pay to be rated.

Data was analyzed between 2008 through 2010. The report also analyzed internet usage by patients from January through July 2011, and ranked the cities with the heaviest search volumes per capita on HealthGrades.com.

Current research shows that patients are increasingly moving from searching disease and treatment-specific information to using the internet to find quality information on doctors and hospitals. More than 10 million people each month research physician and hospital quality on HealthGrades.com.

According to the recent HealthGrades report, these empowered patients are typically between the ages of 25 and 54, with 93 percent having health insurance, 63 percent being female, and 50 percent having household incomes greater than $75,000. Additionally, 80 percent are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the quality of hospital care in their community. In fact, almost 94 percent said they would go out of their way to seek medical care at a more highly rated hospital.

The top cities for patient web use include only one Florida city: Gainesville. It ranked seventh in the country. The full top 10 list of cities, ranked in order, are: Washington D.C., New York, Kansas City, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Gainesville, Fla., Dallas, Atlanta and Baltimore.
For more on medical issues, see the library of articles by Daytona Beach medical malpractice attorney.

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