From ABC News:
For the first time, a government agency is telling patients how hospitals stack up when it comes to treating heart attacks and heart failure.
But since its interactive Web site categorizes an overwhelming majority of the hospitals simply as average, the data may leave some consumers begging for further guidance.
After years of hospitals keeping their death rates private, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the Health and Human Services Department, today posted online a ranking of more than 4,800 hospitals nationwide.
At first thought, Mark Twain's famous quote comes to mind: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." Here is another misuse of information so that hospitals will care more about their stats than about taking care of a sick patient. We've already seen hospitals getting their sicker patients transferred to other institutions so their numbers look better, now this will only encourage it. Why operate on a high risk patient when there are likely to be complications secondary to advanced age and comorbidities? On the other hand, the public is clamoring for this type of info, and traffic is so high I can't even get on the site to see where my hospitals rank. Also, do we take the data to the "next level"- do we break it down by individual doctors?
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