Web site compares hospitals in 17 specific care areas

A new Web site launched by the federal government last week lets consumers see how local hospitals compare in 17 widely accepted quality measurements.

The site, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov, measures how successful hospitals are at treating heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. It compares hospitals with each other and with state and national averages.

"This is another big step toward supporting and rewarding better quality, rather than just paying more and supporting more services," said Mark McClellan, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The site is an attempt to answer calls by consumers, employers and insurers for greater disclosure of clinical data already collected by government agencies and regulators.

"This site shows consumers how often their local hospitals are using procedures known to give patients the best chance of surviving and recovering from heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia and other serious illnesses," said David Schulke, executive vice president of the American Health Quality Association (AHQA), which represents the national network of health care Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs).

Vigilance needed

"This information about hospitals will save lives not only by encouraging consumers to be vigilant, but also because it will motivate hospital boards and executives to engage more extensively in the quality improvement activities of their staff and physicians, " Schulke said.

Some hospitals and research organizations have released similar information in the past but it has been hard for consumers to use and because the formats were not standardized it was often not possible to compare one hospital with another.

The site shows that hospitals vary tremendously from one to another in their performance. It also shows that the quality of care varies a great deal within the walls of a single hospital.

For example, a hospital may provide excellent care for pneumonia patients, but fall far short of the best care for heart attack patients.

Key data missing

Much data is still missing on the Medicare site, such as cost comparisons and surgical outcome statistics. CMS officials say the Hospital Compare site will provide more data as time by goes by.

Medicare eventually hopes to the government payments to performance measurements, possibly using the same data that the site makes available to public.

The site will also allow hospital board members and senior executives to see how their hospitals stack up against other local institutions and national averages.

"Hospital Compare will show hospital leaders where they need to improve," Schulke said.

"Hospitals want to do the best for their patients. We hope that publishing this information will motivate them to invest more in working with doctors, pharmacists and nurses to improve their quality of care."

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