HOSPITAL RATINGS

[The Review Mommy]

Did anyone watch the segment on The Early Show about US Hospitals? There's a company called Health Grades that has done ratings which you can look up on their site. This has got me interested in the hospitals in my area and where I can find out more info and forums on the web. Anyone know who Health Grades are and any websites/forums I can look at to research the Hospitals in my area. I'm looking specifically at Maternity care. I'm in San Diego and thought Mary Berch was considered one of the best in North America but were only rated by Health Grades with 3 stars. Hmm...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/29/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main2408221.shtml

http://www.healthgrades.com/?TV_LID=IMG_Home

Rebekah

[lovin2shop]

That looks to be the same for my area. The most reputable hosipitals in town only got 3 stars as well. One small community hospital got 5 starts. Seems kind of odd because I live in babyville central, and maternity care is one of the biggest focuses for these hospitals. I don't have any experience in the healthcare field, but this does seem fishy to me.

[lilycat88]

What they don't tell you is that they use CMS (primarily Medicare)data. Well, they do tell you but you have to read the fine print AND know what CMS data is. This information is only collected through publically available data. Healthgrades does not contact hospitals to get data. So, anyone paying with private insurance is not included in this information and Medicare isn't well known as a provider of coverage for maternity services :-) .

[Mommy Of A Little Angel]

Yeah, they didn't even have the two best hospitals in my area for women and children. I thought it was a little weird that they weren't even listed.

[val01]

One thing that I didn't like about this rating is that it doesn't seem to take in account the trauma level associated with the hospital. For example, in my area, they rated a Level 1 trauma center as "worse than average" and a higher c-section rate for maternity care. That's because they get the non-routine, highly complicated births! Sheesh!

Valerie

[VClute]

Just a heads up - any hospital that wants to use HG ratings in its advertising or any publication has to PAY for the privilege. The HealthGrades name is trademarked and you have to pay to use it.

That doesn't seem like a very independent kind of rating system to me...

Amy in NC
mom to Dixon, born 2/14/05
...and let the shopping begin!

A GIRL (!!) Due 3/30/07