Recently a NJBiz article http://www.njbiz.com * noted: “The U.S. News & World Report hospital rankings released this week put a spotlight on a few top-ranked hospitals in the state and nation, many of them larger hospitals in busy metropolitan areas. But hospitals that don’t make the list have other ways of competing for patients and getting their message across, experts said.”
“U.S. News said it combined objective hospital data — including death rates and patient safety scores — with surveys of more than 9,500 physicians to compile its annual ranking of 5,000 hospitals in 16 adult specialties, from cancer to urology. Several New Jersey hospitals ranked in the top 50 nationwide in one or more specialties, including Hackensack University Medical Center, Morristown Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, AtlantiCare and Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation. Hospitals that are not nationally ranked in a specialty, but scored in the top 25 percent, were recognized as high-performing.”
“David Knowlton, chief executive of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, said he’s not a big fan of the U.S. News survey because of the weight it places on hospital reputation, based on the physician survey. He said the survey “is going out and asking doctors what their opinion is, and doctors may or may not have an opinion, and it can easily become popularity. But he said U.S. News “has a very wide bandwidth and a lot of people see it, so it influences a lot of people. Knowlton urges consumers to look at how hospitals perform on the Leapfrog Group analysis of hospital safety data, and other hospital safety reports.
“In a hospital, safety is the issue,” he said. “What hospitals are asked to do is create an environment in which talented medical professionals can practice safely. They are responsible for your care after the medical professional has done his or her job.” “And he said outcomes depend both on the hospital and on the clinician providing care.””
“Where you are going to get better from whatever ails you — cancer or cardiac or whatever — that’s really defined by the medical practitioners: the doctor, the therapist, the nurse who is providing your care. Once they are done, you want to know the hospital keeps you safe while you recuperate. The hospital has lot more interaction with you and the nursing staff has a lot more interaction with you.
”So when a patient is shopping for a hospital: “You look for safety: that is what we try to do with the (Leapfrog) safety score. For outcomes, you look to the doctor: the surgeon, the treating oncologist.”
* to read the full NJBiz article “U.S. News rankings just one way to measure hospitals, experts say” by Beth Fitzgerald, highlight and click on open hyperlink
http://www.njbiz.com/article/20140717/NJBIZ01/140719742/US-News-rankings-just-one-way-to-measure-hospitals-experts-say
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Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H., is Clinical Professor, Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Adjunct Professor, Baruch College ( C.U.N.Y.), Rutgers School of Public Health, and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration
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