A new report ranks nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide, including all hospitals in Missouri, for quality of care and success by procedure. Springfield area hospitals are included in this ranking.
Joining us this morning is Dr. Archelle Georgio in New York. Dr. Archelle will be talking about this new report from healthgrades.com. Dr. Georgio, you’re going to break down what you found in this extensive report. About 4,500 hospitals in the U.S. were rated.
That’s correct. We’re rating the hospitals across 31 different procedures and conditions. We make this information available to consumers because, guess what, the hospital quality across America’s hospitals is not equal. The decision of what hospital you go to really makes a difference in the outcome of your care.
Reporter: Springfield, Missouri does have a big hospital community here locally. What can you tell us about the hospitals in our area, and what did you find from your research?
Across the United States we found wide variation. We see it in Missouri of course, and there’s wide variation in Springfield. I’ll just point out some of the statistics that will maybe surprise you. We looked at three hospitals in your area and we looked at the complication rate for hip replacement surgery. It ranged from almost 3% to all the way up to almost 10%. We also looked at another three hospitals, another orthopedic surgery, and looked at their complication rate for total knee replacement. That difference rate was even more dramatic. It ranged from 5.3% all the way up to 17%. I think it reflects the fact that even within the same city you have such significant variation and it’s important to pick hospitals that are affiliated with doctors that have the best outcomes.
Reporter: In the study were you able to name and list those hospitals with those different ratings?
All of the hospitals in the area, and in Missouri and in the country are on the healthgrades.com site. Let me highlight one hospital that did particularly well, 5 star rated hospital for total hip replacement and total knew replacement. So maybe where you want to go if you need to get that surgery, and it’s Mercy Hospital Springfield. For the other conditions and procedures that we cover, they range from heart surgery to prostate surgery, all of that information there will be 5 star rated hospitals in your community for those conditions as well. It would be impossible to list them all, but I encourage people to go to the site and learn how to use it, so they can make the right decision for them and their family.
Reporter: What sort of other things do people need to be considering when they are scheduled for an appointment or they do have a procedure that they know they will have to face, again, what do they need to keep in mind when they’re considering which options are best for them?
I think the most important thing to think about is who your doctor is and making sure that your doctor is certified, is competent, specifically in the area that you need care. And so, the making sure that your doctor is affiliated with a 5 star rated hospital for that condition. And make sure to advocate for your own care. It’s when you have data and information at your fingertips that you can be the best advocate. Again, you can get all that information on healthgrades.com.
Dr. Archelle Georgio, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Source: ozarksfirst.com