Hospital compare site...P O Day 130

CMS, the government administrative arm of Medicare, has created "the Hospital Compare" data base. This allows the Medicare patient to compare the rate of unplanned readmissions or deaths within 30 days of being in the hospital of their choice with the rate of those unfortunate events at other hospitals locally or nationwide. The purpose is to improve the quality of care with a measurement  that is easy for the consumer to understand. The goal for the hospital is to anticipate and prevent problems that lead to readmission or even death following hospitalization for certain conditions.

"Hospital Compare" records and reports instances when the patient is readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge if they were initially treated for 1. heart attack, 2. heart failure, 3. pneumonia, 4. hip/knee replacement surgery, or 5. hospital-wide readmission to include internal medicine, surgery/gynecology, cardiorespiratory, cardiovascular and neurology services.

Also reported is the 30 day death rate from heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia.

They keep track of surgical complications such as: pneumothorax, blood clots, postoperative wound dehiscense, accidental puncture or laceration, pressure sores, venous catheter related infections, postoperative hip fracture due to a fall, and postoperative sepsis.

Ultimately this data serves two purposes: First, the patient can go to the Hospital Compare Home Page and compare the record of three hospitals of their choosing. This rate is also compared to national averages. Second, Hospital Compare is part of the Hospital Quality Initiative whose intent is to help improve hospitals' quality of care by distributing objective, easy to understand data on hospital performance. both for the benefit of the patient and the hospital.

This is a great way to be able to compare your local hospital with other nearby facilities and even nationwide statistics. To go to the Home Page of Hospital Compare by clicking on this link
http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html:

I briefly mentioned this medicare site on P O Day 83 so if you have already checked it out thoroughly, forgive the repetition.

Archive timeline: 2014: May and June - preparing for surgery, July - surgery and post op problems, August - recovery and physical therapy, September - thinking medically, October--