Consumer Reports released new hospital safety ratings on their Website. They rated 1,159 hospitals nationwide for safety and found successful ones throughout the country. The 10 hospitals at the top of their ratings are in 10 states.
These Ratings are based on six categories of patient safety: hospital-acquired infections, readmissions, communication about new medications and discharge, overuse CT scanning, complications, and mortality. The data comes from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, state governments, and the Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit organization that collects data on hospital safety. Their safety score doesn’t look at all medical errors or assess how successful hospitals are at treating medical conditions. But they do provide a unique way to compare hospitals in your community and offer important information about hospital safety nationwide.
The 1,159 hospitals in their safety Ratings represent just 18 percent of U.S. hospitals. They cannot rate more on safety because information on patient harm is still not reported fully or consistently nationwide.
Top 10 hospitals
(Scores are on a 1-to-100 scale.)
1. Billings Clinic, Billings, Mont.: 72
2. Saint Clare’s Hospital, Weston, Wis.: 71
3. Alton Memorial Hospital, Alton, Ill.: 71
4. Central Vermont Medical Center, Berlin, Vt.: 71
5. Kadlec Medical Center, Richland, Wash.: 71
6. St. John’s Hospital, Springfield, Mo.: 70
7. Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix: 70
8. Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, Petoskey, Mich.: 69
9. Bon Secours St. Francis Health Sys