As patients are becoming savvier in their research to find the right care, they are turning to Healthgrades to take the guesswork out of finding the right doctors and hospitals. For patients needing pulmonary care, finding a good pulmonologist to treat respiratory tract diseases—including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, bronchitis, emphysema, and other complex lung diseases—is only half of the equation.
The quality of care provided at the hospital where you practice can influence your patient’s risk of complications or even death. Neither patients, nor their physicians, can assume their local hospital is the best choice for their pulmonary care needs.
Learn more about how Healthgrades evaluates hospital quality, provides hospital ratings specific to pulmonary care, recognizes exceptional hospitals in pulmonary care—and what this means to providing the right pulmonary care for your patients.
Recognizing Quality Across Four Pulmonary-Related Cohorts
Healthgrades evaluates hospital quality for 32 conditions and procedures based solely on clinical outcomes. Our sound methodology compares a hospital’s actual performance to the hospital’s expected outcomes to determine quality ratings.
Our analysis adjusts for clinical and demographic risk factors, including age, gender, specific procedure performed, and pre-existing conditions, such as hypertension, chronic heart failure, and diabetes. This allows us to make fair statistical comparisons of mortality and complication rates between hospitals while accounting for differences in underlying risk factors observed in the data among disparate populations or groups.
Star ratings (5-star, 3-star, and 1-star ratings) communicate the hospitals performance in various conditions and procedures, including four pulmonary-related cohorts:
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Pneumonia
See how hospitals where you practice measure up to other hospitals in your area by visiting your affiliated hospital profile(s) on Healthgrades. Use this information with your patient to take the guesswork out of recommending the right hospital.
Recognizing Hospitals for Exceptional Pulmonary Care
Through our annual awards, Healthgrades recognizes hospitals that deliver superior patient outcomes within 16 service lines, including pulmonary care. The top 5% or 10% of hospitals in pulmonary care are recognized as Healthgrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ recipients, as measured by lowest risk-adjusted mortality.
The Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ is based on outcomes for:
To be considered for this award, a hospital must be evaluated in both conditions. Performance for these two conditions is measured by in-hospital mortality and mortality 30 days after the patient leaves the hospital.
From the list of Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ recipients, Healthgrades further identifies the top 100 hospitals for pulmonary care and recognizes these hospitals with the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care Award™. See which hospitals in your area made the list.
Why Quality Awards Matter
Healthgrades hospital quality awards define and recognize excellence in hospital care. Some hospitals offer significantly better care than others, and the difference to patients can be dramatic. How dramatic?
- Patients treated at hospitals receiving the America's 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care Award™ have, on average, a 52.4% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.*
- Patients treated at hospitals which did not receive the America's 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care Award™ are, on average, 2.10 times more likely to die than if they were treated at hospitals that did receive the award.*
- Patients treated at hospitals receiving the Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ have, on average, a 48.9% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.*
*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2017 through 2019 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.
It’s important for patients and their doctors to access quality care information when choosing a hospital. It can make the difference between life and death, or a smooth recovery versus a lengthy one hampered by complications. Turn to Healthgrades for trusted, actionable information about the care delivered at our nation’s hospitals.
