|
50 Top Hospitals
Not all hospitals are created equal. And when you need one, it's critical to know which are the standard-bearers in safety and innovation.
|
In the broader sense, it's important to recognize medical excellence as a means of encouraging hospitals that didn't make the list to set their sights higher. The ratings for this report were compiled by Consumers' Checkbook, a nonprofit consumer education organization.
What makes the Consumers' Checkbook 50 Top Hospitals survey so special? We've got 30 million answers to that question.
|
CHECKBOOK's Guide to Hospitals rates more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide. It also contains tips on how to get the best care in a hospital.
CHECKBOOK's Guide to Top Doctors lists more than 15,000 specialists in major metropolitan areas rated highest by their peers.
Each publication costs $19.95. To order, call (800) 839-7283 or send a check to:
Consumers' CHECKBOOK
733 15th St. NW
Washington, DC 20005.
You also can order the book—or sign up to use the information online—at www.checkbook.org
|
|
That's how many hospital records Consumers' Checkbook sifted through to collect just part of the data used to rate the hospitals. They also checked hospital accreditations and sent out 260,000 questionnaires (20,000 were returned) to physicians in major metropolitan areas in the U.S., asking them to rate their local hospitals. The number of eligible acute care hospitals: 1,308. The final list of 50 Top Hospitals was selected using the following criteria:
- Death rates for various types of medical and surgical cases. The percentage of Medicare patients (admitted between October 1, 1996, and September 30, 1999) who died within 30 days of being admitted to the hospital. The numbers were adjusted to account for hospital-to-hospital differences in age, diagnoses, and other patient characteristics. The analysis was done by Michael Pine and Associates, a firm with vast experience in medical quality assessment.
- Physician ratings. Percentage of surveyed doctors rating hospital "very good" or "excellent" for high-risk adult surgery. The five-point rating ranged from "poor" to "excellent."
- Accreditation score. This number, given regularly by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, reflects the hospital's performance on a review of standards. Among the hospitals included in the study, scores ranged from 71 to 100.
- Training programs. The extent of training the hospital provides for physicians based on number of medical school affiliations and residents on staff, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services records as of April 2001. Medical school affiliations keep a hospital and its staff on the cutting edge of new medical developments.
Not included in the survey are veteran and military hospitals because records comparable to Medicare cases aren't available for them. Hospitals that specialize in cancer were eligible to be included, but it was more difficult for them to make the list because the risk-adjustment methodology for death rates couldn't be adjusted to reflect the difficult cases they deal with. Also missing are hospitals not located in major metropolitan areas. Only hospitals located within or near a large city in one of 71 major Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. were surveyed. Hospitals that didn't have enough cases or physician ratings to allow meaningful calculations also are not included.
Click to see the
50 TOP HOSPITALS CHART.
|
