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Quality hospital = much less risk of death
The 12th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study examined almost 40 million Medicare hospitalization records from 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The 2010 ratings for individual hospitals are available at www.healthgrades.com, designed to help patients compare the quality of care at their local hospitals for 28 different procedures and treatments, from hip replacement to bypass surgery.
The researchers said the nation's 5,000 non-federal hospitals have a wide gap in quality between the best hospitals and all others.
"The fact is, patients are twice as likely to die at low-rated hospitals as at highly rated hospitals for the same diagnoses and procedures," Dr. Rick May, an author of the HealthGrades study, says in a statement. "With Washington focused on rewarding high-quality hospitals and empowering patients to make more informed healthcare choices, this information comes at a turning point in the healthcare debate."
The study says across all 17 procedures and diagnoses in which mortality was studied, there was an approximately 71.64 percent lower chance of dying in a five-star rated hospital compared to a one-star rated hospital. Across all 17 procedures and diagnoses studied, there was an approximately 51.53 percent lower chance of dying in a five-star rated hospital compared to the national average.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 10/14/2009
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