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Rating the Rankings |
As the nation focuses on the affordability and quality of healthcare, a debate regarding the validity and usefulness of hospital ratings is raging. Consumer Reports just recently released its Hospital Rankings . This report joins US News and World Report, Leapfrog and HealthGrades (to name a few), which publish ratings of hospitals and other healthcare organizations. A March newspaper article in the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that these reports can be varied and misleading. With all the ratings available, many hospitals can find something to boast about; 1600 hospitals last year alone won some sort of distinction from one of the ratings groups. As hospitals use these ratings for marketing, some pay the ratings organizations; one example was a $145,000 fee from HealthGrades for the use of their logo on a hospital website. In a commentary, US News and World Report points out that all these ratings can have a positive effect for consumers, as different groups provide varied information to the consumer. Time will tell how consumers will use all this information to seek out health care |
