Hospital Comparison Data Release by the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) |
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Last year, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a broad comparison of death rates for heart attacks and heart failure, noting how hospitals compared with the national average — better, worse or no different — without releasing the death rates themselves. This year the agency decided to disclose them to consumers. The agency shared the information in advance with USA TODAY to reach the widest possible audience. The agency also posted its new mortality estimates on a government website (hospitalcompare.hhs.gov), along with more than two dozen other measures of how well hospitals meet patients' needs. Among them are statistics on what percentage of a hospital's patients get appropriate care for a variety of ailments, including childhood asthma, and 10 measures of patient satisfaction with the hospital experience. All three types of measurements give hospitals ways to assess — and improve — their quality of care, but many health officials regard the number of patients who die in the hospital or soon after discharge as the ultimate measure of performance. To view the hospitals with the highest and lowest death rates go to: To compare hospitals by zip code to go: |
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