Frequently Asked Questions
What is HealthGrades®?Health Grades, Inc. (NASDAQ:HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings company, providing quality and cost information to consumers and advisory services and products to hospitals, employers, health plans and others. Our mission is to guide America to better healthcare. With our proprietary, objective provider ratings and expert advisory services, we are creating the standard for healthcare quality.
May I print data from HealthGrades?The use of HealthGrades' data is governed by our User Agreement. You may print one copy of any data page strictly for personal use. You must have Health Grades, Inc.'s written permission to reproduce, cite, publish, and/or distribute any data from the site for any purpose. Please refer to the User Agreement for further details.
Why is some information available for free and other information available for purchase on HealthGrades?HealthGrades has advanced profile information that has only been available to clients. HealthGrades believes that consumers would also benefit greatly in having access to this information. Therefore, this information is now made available, along with the information that was free, for a minimal cost. In this way, everyone has the opportunity to have the best information available to make an informed, healthcare decision.
How does HealthGrades help hospitals?HealthGrades offers proven business solutions - including independent, third-party ratings and advisory services - to help providers compete on the basis of quality and assess and improve their quality of care. These solutions include:
- Strategic Quality Initiative and Strategic Quality Partnership (SQI and SQP) Programs help the nation's top-performing hospitals build and maintain a reputation for excellence and compete on the basis of quality. SQI has proven successful in increasing patient volume and market share and bolstering staff recruitment and retention for the company's more than 350 hospital partners.
- Clinical Excellence Research and Consulting Group (CERC) works with clinical staff and physicians to identify areas of quality improvement for hospitals and offers them a suite of tools and services to enhance their quality of care.
We rate or profile:
- 5,000 hospitals according to specialty, such as cardiac surgery, cardiology, orthopedic surgery, neurosciences, pulmonary/respiratory, vascular surgery, obstetrics, and women's health. (Obstetrics and women's health information is available for several states that make it publicly available.) We also rate several individual procedures and diagnoses, such as prostate, cholecystectomy, treatment of sepsis, bowel obstruction, and GI bleed.
- 620,000 physicians in 110 specialties
- 15,000 nursing homes
- 6,000 home health agencies
We assembled a team of healthcare information and analysis experts, including Susan DesHarnais, Ph.D., to develop the company's objective ratings. Dr. DesHarnais has spent more than 16 years developing methods and publishing articles on risk-adjusting healthcare outcomes data.
We compile outcomes data from dozens of independent public and private sources and translate it into easily understandable, objective report card ratings on providers. For hospitals, the company utilizes advanced information management and statistical techniques to process and risk-adjust a large volume of patient level data. We risk-adjust the data in order to make valid and accurate comparisons between providers, taking into account that the demographic characteristics of patients and the severity of patients' illnesses may vary at different locations. This levels the playing field, for example, between hospitals that treat sicker patients vs. those that treat healthier patients.
Our hospital ratings use data from the most current three-year data set available from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and several individual states (those that make the data available) in order to provide meaningful ratings. Our nursing home and home health ratings use data provided by CMS in the Online Survey Certification and Reporting database and are based on current, past and repeating deficiencies found during on-site inspection surveys.
Employers, benefits managers, and health plans are increasingly looking to provide quality information to their employees and members as part of the new consumer driven health plans that are designed to help offset double-digit increases in healthcare costs.
HealthGrades offers these organizations the Health Management Suite, a set of decision-support tools for employees and health plan members that include provider ratings tools, health optimization tools and healthcare budgeting tools.
We have the industry's most comprehensive, accurate, and complete database of healthcare providers in the nation. We license access to this data so that individuals can evaluate and select providers based on quality, empowering them to make better-informed healthcare choices.
Our Professional Report Services provide comprehensive quality information that automates costly and labor-intensive underwriting administration. Insurance companies and brokers can access reliable, unique information on nursing homes, hospitals, and physicians. These reports help companies manage information more effectively for lower costs and improved risk selection.
Where does HealthGrades get its information?We compile data from dozens of independent private and public sources, including:
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Several states' records
- 50 states' medical board records
- Publicly available directories
- Telephone surveys
- Nursing home data is updated monthly.
- Hospital and home health data is updated annually.
- Physician data is updated quarterly.
No. HealthGrades ratings are produced independently, based on objective information that hospitals themselves provide to federal and state governments. During the ratings process hospitals are blinded. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital is allowed to participate in the ratings process.
What are the areas of expertise of HealthGrades' Management Team?We have a highly qualified management team with extensive knowledge and understanding of the healthcare industry. Members of the management team have worked in the healthcare industry for more than 15 years on average. Most of the core team members have substantial experience in health information, quality improvement, and business development; and they helped develop the HealthGrades proprietary rating system. Additionally, Kerry Hicks, CEO, was recognized as the 2000 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the e-business category for the Rocky Mountain Region.
Where has HealthGrades been acknowledged?HealthGrades' studies of hospital quality and patient safety are the most comprehensive annual studies of their kind and are regularly profiled in the media, including the following news outlets:
- The Today Show
- CNN
- BusinessWeek
- Newsweek
- Time
- USA Today
- Washington Post
- The Wall Street Journal
- The New York Times
- Associated Press
- Reuters
- Boston Globe
Both the industry and consumers currently use our ratings. Employers, health plans, benefits managers, insurance companies, and other industry experts rely on our ratings and information to measure, compare, and select healthcare providers. Each month, approximately three million people visit www.healthgrades.com or use HealthGrades Health Management Suite via their employer or health plan.
What services does HealthGrades offer consumers?Consumers can find free hospital information on our site, including how we rated them and if they received our Clinical Excellence or Patient Safety awards.
Consumers who want more in-depth information on a hospital can order a comprehensive Hospital Quality Report. They can also order reports on physicians or nursing homes.
Additionally, HealthGrades offers physician profiles on nearly every practicing physician in the country, nursing home ratings and medical cost reports.
All of the above are accessed through www.healthgrades.com/consumer.
Employers, health plans, consumers and hospitals turn to HealthGrades so they can make smart decisions concerning quality healthcare.
- Employers and health plans offer their employees and health plan members HealthGrades Health Management Suite to provide their employees and members with user-friendly tools that help them make smarter healthcare choices.
- Consumers turn to the HealthGrades Web site for quality ratings of hospitals and nursing homes in their area, and for background information as they choose a doctor.
- Hospitals turn to HealthGrades for consulting to assess, improve and communicate the quality of care they deliver.