By Dave Lucas
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-844733.mp3
Albany, NY – New York's Hospitals get mixed grades in the latest Hospital Report Card survey... Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
The non-profit Niagara Health Quality Coalition has released its seventh annual Hospital Report Card. The Buffalo-based group compared a wide range of mortality, safety and utilization data for individual institutions across the state.
For the first time, the report includes the opinions of hospital patients, who were asked to rate their local hospital on a "0" to "10" scale --- Based on federal data from 2007 and 2008, hospital patients rank New York State worse than the national average at managing pain and overall satisfaction with their care. 56 percent of New Yorkers rated their hospital as a nine or a 10, the highest levels of satisfaction. The national average was 64 percent.
In Central New York, Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton ranked highest with 74 percent. The lowest was Cortland Memorial Hospital with 45 percent. In the greater Capital Region, Bassett Hospital of Schoharie County ranked 67% ... Albany Medical Center matched at the state Average of 56 per cent... some higher grades include St. Peter's Hospital, in Albany, with better-than-average outcomes when dealing with heart attacks, strokes and congestive heart failure, while both Glens Falls Hospital and Amsterdam's St. Mary's Hospital earned good marks for avoiding post-operative respiratory failures.
As with any "report card" there were some notations of areas needing improvement: Glens Falls Hospital ranked higher in accidental punctures and lacerations than other facilities --- Albany Medical Center ranked statistically worse than the state average in preventing post-operative blood clots. The 2009 report shows that statewide, the risk-adjusted mortality rate for nearly all procedures and conditions improved from previous years.
The report card incorporates five performance measures: mortality rates for selected medical conditions, patient safety, utilization, patient surveys and volume of selected medical conditions. Each performance measure includes several selected indicators which are based on federal standards.
The full report can be viewed HERE.