America's Top Hospitals
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, click here.
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 Hamp****re, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Vermont, and Wa****ngton, 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 Wa****ngton -- 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. Wa****ngton, 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 Hamp****re
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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