Consumer Reports: Hospitals ranked by safety
How safe is your hospital? For the first time ever, Consumer Reports rated hospital across the country. And the results were released on Thursday.
Patrick Roth suffered several complications following surgery on his back, including a potentially deadly bacterial infection.
"I have memory of being in the hospital bed and in such pain that I was screaming not to die," he said.
Consumer Reports says many surgical-site infections like the one Roth had can be prevented, yet about one in 20 hospitalized patients develops an infection.
And that's only one concern with hospital care.
A 2010 government report finds mistakes and other medical harm contribute to an estimated 15,000 deaths each month. And that's just among Medicare patients.
"And this figure is conservative," said Dr. John Santa of Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. "Many of the medical mistakes that occur in hospitals are not reported, so we only know about a fraction of the errors that occur."
How safe is your hospital? Consumer Reports analyzed data from more than a thousand hospitals in 44 states and gave each hospital a safety rating in several categories, including: avoiding infections, readmissions after discharge, clear communication about drugs and discharge, and the overuse of CAT scans.
"Our safety score is a composite on a scale of one to 100," Santa said. "The average score was 49. The best scores in the country are around 72."
The ratings show that even the best hospitals have room for improvement.
"No hospital got a top score for preventing patients from being readmitted, or for communicating with patients about discharge instructions and new medications," Santa said.
Kadlec Medical Center, a not-for-profit hospital in Richland, got the second-highest score in the country with 71 points.
Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland (67), Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle (65), St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way (65), Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia (62), Northwest Hospital in Seattle (61) and Tacoma General in Tacoma (60) also scored higher.
Other hospitals scored significantly lower, but at least better than average, including St. Joseph and St. Clare in Tacoma, and Overlake in Bellevue.
But the safety diagnosis for other large and popular local facilities, leaves much to be desired.
Swedish's Cherry Hill campus and Harborview both scored the national average of only 49. MultiCare Good Sam in Puyallup scored 48 while it was a 46 for Swedish Health Services in Seattle. Auburn Regional Medical center is at the bottom of Consumer Reports safety list for our state, with a 41.
It's important to point out that some of the public data used for this dates back to 2009, so conditions at some hospitals may have improved. But it's the most recent data available, and some states don't even require hospitals to report this information.
We contacted the Washington State Hospital Association to see what they had to say about this.
Said Cassie Sauer, the group's vice president of public affairs: "Quality and safety are very important to Washington hospitals. We are absolutely dedicated to making care as safe as possible, and have made significant progress."
Sauer said hospitals in the state are recognized as leaders in patient safety. She pointed out that as a group, they recently won two national quality awards.
Scores for Western Washington Hospitals:
Evergreen Healthcare, Kirkland 67
St. Francis Hospital, Federal Way 65
Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle 65
Providence St. Peter Hospital, Olympia 62
Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, Seattle 61
Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma 60
St. Joseph Medical Center, Tacoma 57
St. Clare Hospital, Tacoma 56
Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Bellevue 53
Providence Regional Medical Center, Everett 52
Valley Medical Center, Renton 52
Harrison Medical Center, Bremerton 52
University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle 51
Swedish Medical Center-Cherry Hill Campus, Seattle 49
Harborview Medical Center, Seattle 49
MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Puyallup 48
Swedish Health Services, Seattle 46
Auburn Regional Medical Center, Auburn 41
Patrick Roth suffered several complications following surgery on his back, including a potentially deadly bacterial infection.
"I have memory of being in the hospital bed and in such pain that I was screaming not to die," he said.
Consumer Reports says many surgical-site infections like the one Roth had can be prevented, yet about one in 20 hospitalized patients develops an infection.
And that's only one concern with hospital care.
A 2010 government report finds mistakes and other medical harm contribute to an estimated 15,000 deaths each month. And that's just among Medicare patients.
"And this figure is conservative," said Dr. John Santa of Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. "Many of the medical mistakes that occur in hospitals are not reported, so we only know about a fraction of the errors that occur."
How safe is your hospital? Consumer Reports analyzed data from more than a thousand hospitals in 44 states and gave each hospital a safety rating in several categories, including: avoiding infections, readmissions after discharge, clear communication about drugs and discharge, and the overuse of CAT scans.
"Our safety score is a composite on a scale of one to 100," Santa said. "The average score was 49. The best scores in the country are around 72."
The ratings show that even the best hospitals have room for improvement.
"No hospital got a top score for preventing patients from being readmitted, or for communicating with patients about discharge instructions and new medications," Santa said.
Kadlec Medical Center, a not-for-profit hospital in Richland, got the second-highest score in the country with 71 points.
Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland (67), Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle (65), St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way (65), Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia (62), Northwest Hospital in Seattle (61) and Tacoma General in Tacoma (60) also scored higher.
Other hospitals scored significantly lower, but at least better than average, including St. Joseph and St. Clare in Tacoma, and Overlake in Bellevue.
But the safety diagnosis for other large and popular local facilities, leaves much to be desired.
Swedish's Cherry Hill campus and Harborview both scored the national average of only 49. MultiCare Good Sam in Puyallup scored 48 while it was a 46 for Swedish Health Services in Seattle. Auburn Regional Medical center is at the bottom of Consumer Reports safety list for our state, with a 41.
It's important to point out that some of the public data used for this dates back to 2009, so conditions at some hospitals may have improved. But it's the most recent data available, and some states don't even require hospitals to report this information.
We contacted the Washington State Hospital Association to see what they had to say about this.
Said Cassie Sauer, the group's vice president of public affairs: "Quality and safety are very important to Washington hospitals. We are absolutely dedicated to making care as safe as possible, and have made significant progress."
Sauer said hospitals in the state are recognized as leaders in patient safety. She pointed out that as a group, they recently won two national quality awards.
Scores for Western Washington Hospitals:
Evergreen Healthcare, Kirkland 67
St. Francis Hospital, Federal Way 65
Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle 65
Providence St. Peter Hospital, Olympia 62
Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, Seattle 61
Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma 60
St. Joseph Medical Center, Tacoma 57
St. Clare Hospital, Tacoma 56
Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Bellevue 53
Providence Regional Medical Center, Everett 52
Valley Medical Center, Renton 52
Harrison Medical Center, Bremerton 52
University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle 51
Swedish Medical Center-Cherry Hill Campus, Seattle 49
Harborview Medical Center, Seattle 49
MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Puyallup 48
Swedish Health Services, Seattle 46
Auburn Regional Medical Center, Auburn 41
