Maybe they should stick to toasters...

Consumer Reports recently published their ratings of 2,463 hospitals, based on the "quality" (length of stay and mortality) of specific surgeries. These findings were dramatically different, however, from the recently released rankings in US News and World Report. In general, in the Consumer Reports rankings, rural hospitals ranked higher than large, university hospitals. Hospitals noted as "better" in ratings included the Arizona Orthopedic Surgical Hospital in Chandler, Arizona; Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut and the Mercy Medical Center in Mason City, Iowa. MUSC scored in the middle of the "worst" category, but was in "good company" with Yale-New Haven, Johns Hopkins, Brigham and Women's, and Duke. It is unclear how these rankings will be used by patients or families, but they will likely be widely viewed nonetheless.

Read more