We can be more than twice as likely to die if we choose the wrong hospital.
HealthGrades, which evaluated Medicare records from 40.6 million hospitalizations, estimated that a patient treated at a hospital that received five stars, the stellar rating, had a 69% lower chance of dying than a similar patient treated at a hospital rated one-star, the poorest, and a 49% lower chance of death than if treated at an average hospital (three stars).
Only 15% of America’s 5,000 hospitals received five-stars.
More than 300,000 Medicare patients died from 2003 to 2005 because they were hospitalized in institutions that were average or poor.
more at MedPage Today
Ira Allen at Science Blog asserts in Great Expectations: “…the most critical element in the system – the public – has yet to be let in on what [we] must actually do in order to get good care.”