The third annual New York State Hospital Report Card has been issued by the Alliance For Quality Health Care (AQHC) and the Niagara Health Quality Coalition (NHQC). The report card is an independent source of information for consumers and community leaders concerned about health care quality and value.
The 2005 report card, which was released December 2, is available at no cost at www.myHealthFinder.com.
The report ranks hospitals based on a list of criteria, including mortality rates for specific procedures; hospital-level procedure utilization rates; and volume of procedures.
The 2005 report card offers New Yorkers two new ranking criteria. The report card includes a report on prevention quality indicators by county, based on 2003 hospital admission rates for 16 medical conditions that should be treated on an outpatient basis. The report also includes a report on 2003 utilization rates for specific inpatient procedures across the state. The utilization report can offer “a window into issues potentially related to overuse, underuse and misuse,” a release from NHQC said.
Hospital CEOs across New York have confidential access to precisely the same reports about their own hospital. This Web site gives consumers and policy leaders access to the same information for every hospital in the state. The goal is to give consumers better choices and to foster more collaboration among hospitals to improve quality state-wide.
AQHC analyzed 2.5 million hospital records to create a rating which patients can use to select hospitals for treatment. A one-star rating for a hospital indicates that mortality for that condition/procedure was significantly higher than New York's statewide average. A two-star rating indicates an average mortality rate. Three stars indicates that mortality is significantly lower (i.e., better) than New York State's state-wide hospital average.
The cases analyzed by the AQHC were adjusted for severity so that hospitals with sicker patients could be fairly compared with hospitals whose patients are not as sick. The methodology was developed by the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Patients are advised to use these data as a starting point in discussions with their physician and others who may be advising them on where to seek care