Savvy Senior – Researching your hospital

Dear Savvy Senior,

Can you recommend some good resources for researching hospitals? My family physician thinks I may need a hip replacement in a few years, so I want to do some hospital research before hand.

Limping Linda

Dear Linda,

You’re smart to be planning ahead. Most people don’t give much thought when it comes to choosing a hospital, but selecting the right one can be as important as the doctor you choose.

Choosy or Choice-less

Most people realize that hospitals are not all alike, but they may not know that the differences among them amount to much more than just size and location. While you may not always have the opportunity to choose your hospital, especially in the case of an emergency, having a planned procedure may offer you a variety of choices.

When shopping for a hospital, the most important criterion is to find one that has a strong department in your area of concern. A facility that excels in coronary bypass surgery, for example, may not be the best choice for a hip replacement. Research shows that patients tend to have better results when they’re treated in hospitals that have extensive experience with their specific condition.

In order to choose a hospital that’s best for you, it is important to discuss your concerns and alternatives with the doctor who is treating you. Some doctors may be affiliated with several hospitals from which you can choose. Or, if you’ve yet to select a doctor, finding a top hospital that has expertise with your condition can help you determine which physician to actually choose.

Another important reason to do some research is the all too frequent occurrence of hospital infections (see www.hospitalinfection.org). Each year 2 million patients are infected in U.S. hospitals and more than 90,000 die because of it. So checking your hospital’s infection rates and cleanliness procedures is a wise move.

Research Your Hospital

The Internet is your best tool to research hospitals. Today, a variety of resources exist that offer user-friendly databases to help you investigate and comparison-shop. Here are some sites to help you get started:

‘ Hospital Compare (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov): Operated by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, this is probably best known source for hospital data. It lets you search by city, state or other criteria, as well as look up a variety of statistics comparing more than 5,000 hospitals against one another and to state and federal averages.

‘ The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations: An independent nonprofit group that accredits most of the hospitals in the U.S. At www.qualitycheck.org, you can search by hospital, location or type of service and get reports on individual hospitals or compare several. They also list hospitals that have certification for various medical specialties.

‘ Health Grades (www.healthgrades.com): A private company, they compare more than 5,000 hospitals on 32 conditions and procedures, including complications and death rates. Much of the information is available free on the site, which is searchable by state, procedure and other criteria. Or, for $18, the group will provide more elaborate reports, including average-length-of-stay data and price comparisons.

‘ Leapfrog Group (www.leapfroggroup.org): They provide comparisons of how 1,300 hospitals follow 30 different practices that helps insure quality care. For example they provide data on whether hospital procedures consistently encourage hand-washing, whether specialized doctors and nurses staff intensive-care units, and whether doctors enter orders electronically in an effort to avoid errors.

‘ State resources: Many states gather data from hospitals for public-health and other purposes, but only about 20 provide public quality reports for consumers. To locate them visit the National Association of Health Data Organizations at www.nahdo.org/qualityreports.aspx.

Savvy Tips: It’s a good idea to check with all these Web resources to see if the data you’re gathering is consistent. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for online, call the hospital’s quality office or medical staff office. Most facilities will be willing to answer your questions. Also, check out the U.S. News & World Report, 2007 ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ (health.usnews.com/besthospitals), which ranks 173 of the nation’s best hospitals in 16 specialties.