Is your hospital killing you?

[Gerry]

I was just reading Poorly performing hospitals found near travel hot spots which ranked hospitals near popular hotspots for vacationers and travelers.

The article included this link for you to check hospitals in your area.


U.S. hospital death rates
Review death and readmission rates from 2005 - '08 for select conditions at hospitals throughout the United States.

Find your hospitals

Currently, the only statistics are heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia.

This will eventually be expanded to include many more conditions (some currently found on other sites). I found a couple in my area that are pretty high in death rates (1 in 5 die) but these are also trauma centers which see a high number of critical patients transferred or airlifted from outlying smaller hospitals.

[500,000]

Love Wins

[JMJ]

A doctor who was working the rounds at New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina has admitted euthanizing patients during a crucial shortage of energy and supplies at the hospital.

Despite the revelations, the state prosecution service in Louisiana says it will not re-open an investigation into the matter, the Associated Press reports.

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/...-patients-die/

Read through the story. One of the patients set to be taken out by this caring doctor is alive and well today.

[draggar]

Having been married into a family of medical professionals I can easy say that you cannot blame it on the hospitals.

Hospitals and doctors are at the complete mercy of insurance companies. Insurance typically pays the lowest amount to doctors that is available in the area. If one doctor is cutting corners left and right to have the lowest price - this is what the other doctors get paid (for the same procedure).

Insurance companies also think about money and not health care. My father in law tried to get an appendectomy for one of his patients for months - the insurance company kept denying it because "their numbers weren't that good". He finally got it approved - 8 months after the initial request. The patient's appendix ruptured while he was being prepped for the surgery and he spent 8 hours "cleaning" him out. The insurance company refused to pay him for the 8 hours since they said it was his fault it ruptured (they dared to say he shouldn't have waited as long) and was only going to pay him for the "30 minute procedure".

A previous insurance company of my wife's actually backed out AFTER her hip was replaced stating she really didn't need it. Mind you - they approved it and they did the procedure and THEN they changed their minds.

[Seraphim]

nsurance companies also think about money and not health care. My father in law tried to get an appendectomy for one of his patients for months - the insurance company kept denying it because "their numbers weren't that good". He finally got it approved - 8 months after the initial request. The patient's appendix ruptured while he was being prepped for the surgery and he spent 8 hours "cleaning" him out. The insurance company refused to pay him for the 8 hours since they said it was his fault it ruptured (they dared to say he shouldn't have waited as long) and was only going to pay him for the "30 minute procedure".

Reminds me of my step Grandfather who needed bypass surgery, though because he smoked, and had a history of heart disease, his insurance would only cover a small percentage of the operation. At the end of the day, his decision was either sell his home and live, or keep his home and die. So he hid the seriousness of his condition from my Grandmother, and four years later he died and left her with their home.

Probably a pretty common story in the US of A.

[Gerry]

Having been married into a family of medical professionals I can easy say that you cannot blame it on the hospitals.

The sites quoted and statistics posted are basically a ranking to see how well your hospital is doing in certain areas. Notice that not only do they give the morbidity figures but also re-admissions for the same problem.

Statistics like these are crucial and important. So important, that more services will be focused on and included. In due time, you will be able to not only look up a hospital to see how well (or poorly) they rank but also be able to see vital numbers pertaining to service, department, and even physician.

One way to impact the cost of healthcare is to make these stats known and public. This will especially be true for elective surgeries. When you take a stress test and clogged arteries are found, you will be able to go online and review previous ratings of the hospital, the service, and physicians. This will be known as Pay For Performance. Lower rankings will mean lower reimbursement to the facility and ultimately the physician. Presently, prima donna physicians walk the halls of the hospital believing that they are untouchable by claims and by the hospital administration. That will change.

That is why these statistics are so important. That is why they are equally or more important from the consumers standpoint.

When you get down to it, it is the doctor's and their performance and professionalism that drives healthcare. A readmission for the same illness cost the hospital money. That will start to change. Any readmission or protracted stay due to negligence or carelessness will be a bill eaten by the hospitals. And this will not set well with the hierarchy and share holders of the hospital. When you go in to have a gall bladder removed and then contract MRSA (infection) that is a protracted stay that you will not pay nor will the hospital get reimbursed for.

Yes, health care reform is needed. The need is to reduce the cost that mistakes add and for more accountability and responsibility.

Sites like used in the thread are just the start of what you will see to be better informed as a consumer.

It will be a report card and you DO want your local hospitals to get high grades.