Ranking Hospitals

According to the Wall Street Journal article, "Hospital Rank Doesn't Predict Death Rate", the findings of a new research suggest that "many [hospitals] that are highly rated by government regulators only have marginally lower patient death rates [than those not highly rated]." This study evaluated 3,657 hospitals that are listed on the Hospital Compare utility found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. However, one should note, death rates in hospitals aren't the only elements CMS used to rate hospitals. According to the director of CMS's quality measurement and health assessment group, the Hospital Compare utility uses 22 quality measures.

The findings of the study also suggested that "better ways of measuring performance are needed to help consumers make meaningful choices ... Only then will performance measurement live up to expectations for improving health care quality." Perhaps consumers won't have to wait to long (Google, anyone?).

Yes, there probably needs to be more quality measures when comparing hospitals. Perhaps even with these added quality measures there will be studies proving there is little difference between top rated and lower rated hospitals. However, when it comes to a matter of life or death, who would you trust—a study or CMS (which receives performance reports from hospitals nationwide)?