Health: America's Top Hospitals

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America's Top Hospitals

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Best Hospitals' Survival Rates 12-20% Higher, Study Says

By Miranda Hitti

WebMD Medical News

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD on Monday, January 24, 2005

 

Jan. 24, 2005 -- Of all the hospitals in America, which ones are best?

According to a new study, 229 hospitals stand out, earning a

" Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence. "

 

The awards come from HealthGrades, an independent organization focused

on health care quality. For the third straight year, HealthGrades has

identified the top five percent of U.S. hospitals for clinical quality.

 

For the complete list,

 

Nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide were considered. The rankings are

based on death and complication rates of Medicare patients hospitalized

from 2001-2003 for 28 common procedures and diagnoses including heart

attack, stroke, heart bypass, pneumonia, hip replacement,

gastrointestinal problems, and back and neck surgery.

 

For four of the most common conditions and treatments -- heart attack,

stroke, community acquired pneumonia, and heart bypass surgery --

survival rates were 12-20% better at the distinguished hospitals than at

an average American hospital.

 

Here's how those survival rates compared:

 

* Stroke: 15.4% better at awarded hospitals

* Community-acquired pneumonia: 19.55% better at awarded hospitals

* Coronary (heart) bypass surgery: 15.3% better at awarded hospitals

* Heart attack: 12.6% better at awarded hospitals

 

The heart attack rate was based on hospitals using angioplasty and stent

treatments to reopen blood vessels.

 

Life-And-Death Implications

 

To put those percentages in real-world terms, imagine an average-sized

crowd at an NFL football game -- nearly 53,000 people. That's how many

lives could have been saved if all Medicare patients hospitalized for

those four problems had gone to top-ranked hospitals, says HealthGrades.

 

Distinguished hospitals treated more Medicare patients than average

hospitals. Their Medicare patients were often in worse condition than

those at average hospitals. The awards included 126 teaching hospitals,

which have at least one resident or were connected to an approved

medical teaching program for at least one year of the study.

 

Best, Worst Regions

 

Geography mattered. Some regions had an abundance of awarded hospitals,

while some states had none.

 

The Great Lakes region had the highest concentration of top-ranked

hospitals, based on the 2000 U.S. census. There was one distinguished

hospital for every 773,181 residents in that region, which included

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

 

The Sunbelt was a close second. Like the Great Lakes area, it had 72

distinguished hospitals, but the Sunbelt's larger population meant more

patients per hospital. The Sunbelt states were Alabama, Florida,

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee,

Virginia, and West Virginia.

 

Third place went to the Northeast, with 36 distinguished hospitals. The

Northeast included Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland,

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode

Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.

 

The Great Plains region had 30 awarded hospitals. Those states were

Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North

and South Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.

 

The West Coast had the lowest concentration of top-ranked hospitals. In

those states -- Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada,

Oregon, Utah, and Washington -- there was one awarded hospital per

almost 3 million people.

 

Florida and the Upper Great Lakes had the highest per-capita number of

distinguished hospitals. Washington, Georgia, and Massachusetts had the

lowest per-capita figures.

 

States Without Top-Ranked Hospitals

 

The 16 states without top-ranked hospitals were:

 

Alaska

Arkansas

Delaware

Hawaii

Idaho

Kansas

Maine

Mississippi

New Hampshire

New Mexico

Nevada

North Dakota

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Vermont

Wyoming

 

SOURCES: HealthGrades, " The Third Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality

and Clinical Excellence Study, " Jan. 24, 2005. News release, HealthGrades.

 

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