HOSPITAL WEB SITE ARCHEOLOGY

When “googling” for hospital information we often wind up at hospital web sites.
Hospital web sites are marketing based so how does one find and aggregate key elements and then do comparative analysis?

You can use these web sites for this exercise, all hospitals with which I have been involved

City Hospital Center at Elmhurst (I was the Administrator of Mount Sinai Services, 1975-1979)
https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/elmhurst/

Mount Sinai Hospital (I held various positions at the medical school and medical center from 1979-1989, leaving as an SVP)
https://www.mountsinai.org/locations/mount-sinai

LibertyHealth/ Jersey City Medical Center (I was President & CEO from 1989-2006. Now, Jersey City Medical Center/ RWJ Barnabas Health)
https://www.rwjbh.org/jersey-city-medical-center/

Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center (was part of LibertyHealth with Jersey City Medical Center; has changed ownership several times in the last ten years, now Hudson Regional Hospital)
https://www.hudsonregionalhospital.com/

CarePoint Health/ Hoboken (I was on the Board of the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority for three years; now owned by CarePoint Health)

or better yet, compare hospitals in your medical service area!

Ok, let’s get started:
Find ABOUT US. This is the picture painting how the hospital wants to be envisioned.
Find the MISSION STATEMENT, a formal summary of the aims and values of the hospital, as approved by the Board of Trustees and required for accreditation.
Compare ABOUT US and the MISSION STATEMENT. Are they clear and consistent?
Find ACCREDITATION. This gets trickier. A long list of certifications is not in of itself important. What is important is are they evidenced-based, completed by an arms-length review, and for a fixed period of time then must be renewed. You can google the agency and find the methodology used.
Find QUALITY. Again quality recognition awards should be evidenced-based, completed by an arms-length review, and for a fixed period of time then must be renewed. You can google the agency and find the methodology used.
Find AFFILIATIONS. A medical school affiliation is an excellent benchmark, however is it robust or ceremonial?
Go to LEADERSHIP/ BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Are Board member recognized community leaders?

And then go to

HOSPITAL COMPARE https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html
at this MEDICARE site you can compare hospital performance metrics

HOSPITAL COST COMPARE/ CMS
http://www.hospitalcostcompare.com/
what over 3000 U.S. Hospitals billed Medicare for the top 100 Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) along with what Medicare actually reimbursed

OPEN PAYMENTS/ CMS.gov https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/
search payments made by drug and medical device companies to physicians and teaching hospitals.

THE LEAPFROG GROUP http://www.leapfroggroup.org/compare-hospitals
an independent organization where you can compare hospital quality metrics

US NEWS. BEST HOSPITALS REGIONAL RANKINGS
https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area
ranks hospitals regionally in both states and major metro areas

THE JOINT COMMISSION
https://www.jointcommission.org/
An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies nearly 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.
https://www.qualitycheck.org/

AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY http://archive.ahrq.gov/consumer/qnt/qnthosp.htm
Choosing a Hospital Worksheet

Then take a look at:
NATIONAL QUALITY FORUM
http://www.qualityforum.org/About_NQF/
NQF measures and standards serve as a critically important foundation for initiatives to enhance healthcare value, make patient care safer, and achieve better outcomes.

AVOID for-profit “hospital quality” web sites like Healthgrades.
“Partnering with Healthgrades doesn’t just give you access to our talented marketing services group — it’s more accurate to say it becomes an extension of your own marketing department. Our team is dedicated to your success and available when you need us.”
https://hs.healthgrades.com/solutions/marketing-services

“At his surgery center near San Diego, Rodney Davis wore scrubs, was referred to as “Dr. Rod” and carried the title of director of surgery. But he was a physician assistant, not a doctor, who anesthetized patients and performed liposuction with little input from his supervising doctor, court records show.
So it was perhaps no surprise, in 2016, when an administrative judge stripped Davis of his license, concluding it was the only way to “protect the public.” State officials also accused two former medical directors of Pacific Liposculpture of enabling Davis to act as a doctor.
One powerful authority in California took a different view. The state-approved private accreditation agency that oversees the center left its approval in place. So the center is still operating and Davis remains an owner and administrator, state records show.
California is the only state with more than 1,000 surgery centers that has given private accreditors a lead role in oversight. Those accreditors are typically paid by the same centers they evaluate.
That approach to oversight has created a troubling legacy of laxity, an investigation by Kaiser Health News shows. In case after case, as federal or state authorities waved red flags, state-approved accreditation agencies affixed gold seals of approval, according to a KHN review of hundreds of pages of doctors’ disciplinary records, court files and accreditor reports — which are public only for California surgery centers.” (A)

Then…
The next challenge is reconciling accepted metrics with data connected on the internet!
A recent report..
“Crowd-sourced ratings of the “best overall” hospitals produced scores similar to Hospital Compare’s ratings, but crowd-sourced ratings were less reliable as indicators of clinical quality and patient safety, according to recent research.
The study in Health Services Research examined hospital ratings on Facebook, Google Reviews, and Yelp. The findings showed crowd — sourced ratings reflected patient experience rather than other factors…
The research examined data from nearly 3,000 acute care hospitals. Perez’s group found that:
• For best-ranked hospitals on the crowd-sourcing sites, 50% to 60% were ranked best in Hospital Compare’s overall rating.
• For best-ranked hospitals on the crowd-sourcing sites, 20% ranked worst in Hospital Compares overall rating.
• For clinical quality and patient safety, hospitals ranked best on crowd-sourced sites were only ranked best on Hospital Compare about 30% of the time.
Perez said Hospital Compare, which combines as many as 57 metrics for patient experience and clinical quality, was used to gauge the accuracy of the crowd-sourcing sites for several reasons.
“The clinical quality and patient safety measures are based on Medicare claims data, which means there is a lot of information about patients, and they can do risk adjustment,” she said of Hospital Compare.
Risk adjustment is crucial when comparing hospitals, she added. “Rather than being concerned that some hospitals are treating a sicker pool of patients, and have worse outcomes as a result, the Hospital Compare data can be adjusted for the health of the patient mix.”
The crowd-sourcing sites are more prone to bias, she said. “A concern when you look at social media is that people only write reviews when they have really good or really bad patient outcomes,” she pointed out.” (B)

Postscript.
“Medscape asked over 11,000 physicians to rank their preferences for care and treatment for themselves or family, assuming no barriers, such as transportation or cost.” (C)

(A) Despite Red Flags At Surgery Centers, Overseers Award Gold Seals, by Christina Jewett, https://khn.org/news/despite-red-flags-at-surgery-centers-overseers-award-gold-seals/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202018-09-20%20Healthcare%20Dive%20%5Bissue:17208%5D&utm_term=Healthcare%20Dive
(B) Crowd-Sourced Ratings Rely Heavily on Patient Experience, by Christopher Cheney, https://www.medpagetoday.com/hospitalbasedmedicine/generalhospitalpractice/75111?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2018-09-19&eun=g1223211d0r&pos=11111&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202018-09-19&utm_term=Daily%20Headlines%20-%20Active%20User%20-%20180%20days
(C) Medscape Physicians’ Choice: Top Hospitals for Key Conditions and Procedures (Non-cancer), https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/top-hospitals-key-conditions-6010216?faf=1#1