Quality and Safety

Good communication between hospitalists and primary care physicians at the time of discharge is critical to patient safety and to the reduction of risk. Unfortunately, this communication has historically been “one way” in the form of a discharge summary.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to keep program in place that penalizes hospitals that showed too many medical errors.

Hospital does not charge for any additional care within 30 days of a hip or knee replacement, covering readmissions, infections, rehab and postoperative care — everything except deficiencies in the joint devices.

Both lists rely on answers to a hospital’s Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys.

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys used for both lists.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services assigns ratings to more than 3,500 hospitals, which it said will give consumers a clearer picture of quality when it comes to choosing a healthcare provider.

Recent rankings by Healthgrades and Truven claim to list the best hospitals in the country for measures such as quality, safety, patient experience and financial management, yet only one made all four.

Map and table shows the state-level incentive totals for meaningful use incentives from January 2011 to February 2015.

Healthcare Finance analyzed Healthgrades' 2015 Patient Safety Excellence Awards and the 2015 Outstanding Patient Experience Awards to see which hospitals showed up on both.

Healthgrades list based on CMS data on patients who stayed at these hospitals between 2011 and 2013.