Posted on 01/27/2011 12:47:24 PM PST by Stoat
processing....
January 26, 2010 — A first-ever ranking of the nation's top 50 hospitals based on a comprehensive study of patient death and complication rates at nearly 5000 hospitals has been released this week.
The study was conducted by HealthGrades as part of the ninth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study. The analysis was based on approximately 40 million Medicare patient discharges for the years 2007, 2008, and 2009.
The study, led by Kristin Reed, MPH, Carol Nicholas, MSTC, and Rick May, MD, with the healthcare assessment organization HealthGrades, found that West Palm Beach, Florida, ranked first in the nation, with 9 of 12 hospitals in the region designated top performers. Others in the top 5 markets for hospital care quality were Brownsville, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; and Tucson, Arizona.
Of 4873 short-term, nonfederal, nonchildren's, acute care hospitals included in the analysis, 268 hospitals performing in the top 5% nationwide were identified. A total of 26 different medical procedures and diagnoses were included. "These hospitals as a group have the lowest risk-adjusted mortality and fewest in-hospital complications out of the approximately 5,000 hospitals studied," the authors note in the report.
Hospitals deemed to be in the "distinguished" category had a 29.82% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rate and a 1.91% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital complication rate among Medicare beneficiaries compared with all other hospitals. The diseases for which the reduction in mortality was greatest at the distinguished hospitals were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (41.08%) and pneumonia (40.17%).
Thirty-six states had 1 or more distinguished hospitals, with Delaware having the highest percentage (75%) of eligible hospitals, followed by Minnesota (55.56%), Arizona (51.87%), Maryland (36.67%), and Connecticut (35%).
The analysis also ranked cities by highest percentage of distinguished hospitals. The top 10 cities for hospital quality were located in Florida, Texas, Ohio, Minnesota, Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The researchers estimate that if all hospitals performed similarly, 158,684 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved and 3511 Medicare in-hospital complications could be avoided.
The report, which also described the findings of an online survey of 15,000 respondents, indicated that nearly 94% of consumers say they would go out of their way to seek care at a highly rated hospital. Nearly two thirds (64.9%) stated that they would be willing to pay more out of pocket to seek care at a top-rated hospital. In addition, 83.4% of consumers said they are very or somewhat concerned about hospital quality in their community.
"No longer is today's health care consumer simply looking for the least expensive option when it comes to medical care," said Rick May, MD, HealthGrades vice president of clinical quality services and study coauthor, in a written release. "They expect high quality and are willing to go out of their way to get it."
The study was supported for by HealthGrades and conducted by its employees.
The survey is available on the HealthGrades Web site.
Did Your City Make the List?
HealthGrades Quality Study Identifies Hospitals in Top 5% in Nation; Cities that Have Highest Concentration of Top Hospitals
HealthGrades knows that you and your family are concerned about the quality of hospital care in your community. So we’ve released the first-ever list of America’s Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care. The rankings are based on a comprehensive study of patient death and complication rates at the nation’s nearly 5,000 hospitals.
The Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care list is part of HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study. As part of the study, HealthGrades identified those hospitals performing in the top 5% nationwide across 26 different medical procedures and diagnoses, then ranked cities by highest percentage of these Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence™.
West Palm Beach, FL ranked #1 in the nation, with nine out of 12 hospitals designated as top-performers. Rounding out the top five markets for hospital care quality were: Brownsville, TX, Dayton, OH, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and Tucson, AZ, respectively. The complete list of Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care and all Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence can be found at www.healthgrades.com.
Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on patients’ clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and inhospital complications. HealthGrades’ analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare patient discharges for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
This year’s study found that American families are highly aware of differences in hospital quality within their communities, expect continued transparency from hospitals when it comes to quality, and rely on clinical quality ratings as a trusted source when choosing a provider.
“Our research indicates that the recent health care reform debate and highly-publicized reports about the persistence of wide variation in the quality of patient care at U.S. hospitals have resonated with the American public,” said Dr. Rick May, HealthGrades vice president of clinical quality services and study co-author. “No longer is today’s health care consumer simply looking for the least expensive option when it comes to medical care. They expect high quality and are willing to go out of their way to get it.”
According to a survey of nearly 15,000 visitors to HealthGrades.com that was included in HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study:
|
|
|
|
Other key findings from the study are as follows:
|
|
|
HealthGrades Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care
Click here to see the list of hospitals that rank top 5% in the nation for each city.
West Palm Beach, FL
Brownsville, TX
Dayton, OH
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Tucson, AZ
Cincinnati, OH
Phoenix AZ
Greenville, SC
Chattanooga, TN
Richmond, VA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Hartford/New Haven, CT
Cleveland, OH
Grand Rapids, MI
Baltimore, MD
Chicago, IL
San Diego, CA
Detroit, MI
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, FL
St. Louis, MO
Orlando, FL
Houston, TX
Wilkes Barre, PA
La Crosse-Eau Claire, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Evansville, IN
Atlanta, GA
Colorado Springs, CO
Jacksonville, FL
Columbia, MO
Tri-Cities, TN
Johnstown/Altoona, PA
Savannah, GA
Lincoln, NE
Denver, CO
Los Angeles, CA
Eugene, OR
Des Moines/Ames, IA
Youngstown, OH
Wichita, KS
Davenport, IA
Champaign, IL
Columbus, OH
Springfield, MO
Memphis, TN
Syracuse, NY
Pittsburgh, PA
San Francisco, CA
Louisville, KY
New York, NY
Designated Market Areas are geographic areas defined by The Nielsen Company as a group of counties that make
up a particular television market.:
Naturally, this begs the obvious question of what in the heck does a television ratings company and their data acquisition methodology have to do with a study on hospitals?
Questions such as this raise red flags for me as to the validity and value of the study, but because I didn't easily find clear answers to my questions I thought that I'd post it at Free Republic anyway so that readers here can make up their own minds as to whether this study has any worth or not.
One of the factors that made me want to get this study to a wider readership is that the NHS hospitals in the UK have been ranked in similar ways for decades, and although I am of course completely opposed to Socialized medicine and ZeroCare I had always been intrigued by these UK hospital rankings and have wished for similar rankings to be available here in the USA. This study and its associated rankings are touted as the first of its kind and so I felt it's quite noteworthy for that reason alone. How accurate the data is of course is an entirely different matter ;-)
The hospitals that rank lowest will be assigned by Obama’s HHS to handle end of life counciling to senior citizens. /morbid sarc
My little Hospital
Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge
http://www.healthgrades.com/hospital-directory/tennessee-tn/methodist-medical-center-of-oak-ridge-hgst37fae6a6440034
was a Clinical Excellence hospital...
In 2009, 2010, and 2011
Pat on back...
There are a lot of really good hospitals that didn’t make the list. I will tell you up front that I don’t know the majority of these hospitals and I haven’t read the methodology. But I would bet that the majority of these a smaller community hospitals that either do not take patients who are seriously ill or the seriously ill patients go to the bigger inner-city hospitals and teaching facilities. The other think I want to mention is that, for me, the key to quality care should be reflected in the hospital’s nosocomial infection rates. Nosocomial infections are those acquired AFTER the patient enters the hospital. Just my opinion.
ping
A useless ranking. Mortality depends on many things, including the average age of the patients.
That’s my impression upon first read too. Cancer specialists like Sloan Kettering and research hospitals like Johns Hopkins likely have higher mortality rates as their patients are of higher risk.
Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on patients’ clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and inhospital complications. HealthGrades’ analysis is based on approximately 40 million Medicare patient discharges for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
I'm guessing that variations such as patient age and preexisting conditions (such as cancer) would be dealt with under the umbrella of "risk-adjusted mortality" and nosocomial infections would be factored in under "inhospital complications".
My aunt swears by that hospital,they saved her life back before Christmas
Beautiful place too.Had a lady playing piano in the lobby the time we were there visiting her
“Cancer specialists like Sloan Kettering and research hospitals like Johns Hopkins likely have higher mortality rates as their patients are of higher risk.”
That was my take on it too. Houston should be at the top of the list as the hospitals in the Texas Medical Center do some of the most difficult medicine in the world.
Actually, the world comes to us for treatment. I don’t think they go to Brownsville.
These are also all Medicare patients and that would have a great deal of effect on the outcomes.
Some of the best hospitals get the most challenging cases and that makes their mortality numbers look bad.
I probably could tell you who she was...
Also, for some conditions you would expect mortality to actually be higher at the really good hospitals, because that's where the really sick people go to get treatment.
Thanks. One of the points I was trying to make is that good hospitals sometimes taken in the very sick, so their patient population may be closer to death than those who go to community hospitals. The outcome for the hospitals with the more sickly patients will have a higher mortality than those with less sickly patients. Hope I’m making myself clear.
As an example, my son is an anesthesia technician at a private hospital for a medical school in Dallas. Some of the surgeries they do are not performed anywhere else in the world. The hospital’s mortality rate is bound to be higher than other facilities.
HealthGrades’ Hospital Ratings
As part of this study, HealthGrades rates each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals in 26 procedures and diagnoses, allowing individuals to compare their local hospitals online at www.healthgrades.com. HealthGrades’ hospital ratings are independently created; no hospital can opt-in or opt-out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated. Mortality and complication rates are risk adjusted, which takes into account differing levels of severity of patient illness at different hospitals and allows for hospitals to be compared equally.
(emphasis mine)
Neither of the two big “heart hospitals” in my area made the list.
I don’t know how they can actually compare and award winners, unless they had categories with hospitals falling into a type of category. I imagine that they are all acute care facilities. Trauma hospitals would never make this list unless they had a class specifically for trauma hospitals.
Exactly. That is such a strong effect that the report is useless. My neighborhood hospital has near zero mortality because anyone sick enough to have any chance of dying goes to a real hospital. I would not want to go to my local hospital for an advanced or rare cancer, or for any condition that was uncommon and life threatening.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.