Wednesday, January 26, 2011

HealthGrades Names Top 50 Cities for Hospital Care

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: