Healthgrades Announces Top 50 U.S. Hospitals Based on Clinical Outcomes

Healthgrades Releases Top 50 U.S. Hospitals Based on Clinical OutcomesEarlier this week, Healthgrades released its 19th annual evaluation of our nation’s hospitals – a ratings report of top U.S. hospitals based on clinical outcomes. Here’s what they found:

  • From 2013 through 2015, clinical and quality outcomes varied widely and if all hospitals had performed like those that rated 5 stars, 223,412 lives could have been saved and 162,215 complications may have potentially been avoided, the analysis of MedPAR data on Medicare patients concluded.
  • Hospitals that made the top 50 list represent 1% of the total amount of U.S. hospitals, while those that are in the top 100 represent 2%.

A total of 22 states, including Delaware, New Mexico and Hawaii, as well as the District of Columbia did not have any hospitals that received either a 4- or a 5-star rating, Healthcare IT News reported. The states with the most hospitals in the top 50 list was California with eight hospitals, followed by Illinois and Michigan.

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Among the top 50 hospitals were the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Saint Luke’s Hospitals in Cedar Rapids and Baltimore-based Medstar Good Samaritan Hospital.

The report examines patients’ risk for complication and mortality. It also takes into account 32 common conditions and surgical procedures, such asCABG and bariatric surgery, and the relative driving time to hospitals.

Patients who stayed at 5-star hospitals had, on average, a 71% lower risk of dying. Also, compared to hospitals that received a 1-star rating, those who were treated at hospitals with a 5-star rating for the same procedure or condition had a 65% lower risk of having at least one complication.

While the report provides valuable insight on hospitals’ outcomes, hospital rankings sometimes differ significantly. In a recent study published by Health Affairs, the four most common rating systems that patients use are contradictory because they use different methodologies.

See the Healthgrades full report here.