How do we compare?

 

As an independent state agency, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) issues free public reports about the quality of healthcare in Pennsylvania. These reports offer comparative information on treatment outcomes and financial data for healthcare providers operating within the state. For more information, please go to their web site at www.phc4.org.

 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations. Accreditation from this independent, non-profit organization is a recognized symbol of quality, demonstrating an organizations achievement of performance standards. JCAHO accreditation requires successful completion on an on-site survey at least every three years. For more information go to: http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchresults.aspx?nm=pinnaclehealth&ddstatelist=&st_nm=-1&st=

 

The Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance (PHCQA) is a nonprofit coalition of Pennsylvania health care providers and insurers. For more information go to: ww.phcqa.org/reports/hospital/index.php?id=390067

 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a federal government agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). CMS offers guides on reviewing quality of care about a variety of healthcare providers, such as home health care, nursing homes and managed care through the site: http://www.medicare.gov/. Information on how well hospitals provide care for specific medical conditions is available at: http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/.

 

Each year, Thomson Reuters surveys hospital management across the United States and publishes its list of top 100 hospitals in Modern Healthcare. Most of the factors involved with this ranking are business related, such as profitability, productivity, expenses and revenue. Three clinical measures, length of stay, mortality and complications, are reported. For more information go to  http://www.100tophospitals.com/ .

 

Health Grades, Inc. provides rankings of healthcare organizations online, organized by specialty and scores them based on outcomes for specific procedures in each specialty. The specialty areas where data is available are: Cardiac, Neurosciences, Neurosurgery, Pulmonary/Respiratory, Obstetrics and Vascular Surgery. Additional information is available at: www.healthgrades.com.

 

A Health Care Quality Improvement Resource from The Commonwealth Fund. For more information go to, http://www.whynotthebest.org/.

 

U.S. News & World Report issues an annual report of their Best Hospitals survey. This survey uses three evenly weighted factors, reputation, risk-adjusted mortality and technology, to rank hospitals in 17 specialties. Go to www.usnews.com for more information.

 

Each year, AARP publishes the results of their survey in Modern Maturity. Reputation, mortality, JCAHO score and training are the factors used in this survey. Check out www.aarp.org for more information.

 

Americas Tops Doctors is produced each year by Castle Connolly, ranking the best doctors in each of 41 specialties. Rankings are based on physician review. Go to www.americastopdoctors.com for more information.