New York City’s regional network of hospitals ranked a dismal 50th in the country for patient care, a shocking new study released yesterday found.
The analysis by the medical watchdog group Health Grades found that the best care for Medicare patients was found at hospitals in West Palm Beach, Fla., followed by Brownsville, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Tucson, Ariz.; and Cincinnati.
Big Apple medical providers were even humbled by other big cities, ranking below Cleveland (13th), Baltimore (15th), Chicago (16th), San Diego (17th), Detroit (18th), Miami (19th), St. Louis (20th), Milwaukee (25th), Atlanta (27th), Denver (35th) and Los Angeles (36th).
Of 113 metro areas surveyed, the study ranked only the top 50, which means New York barely made the cut.
“Names and reputations of hospitals are not indicative of how patients fare. We’ve seen that hospitals in New York City collectively are not performing at the level of hospitals in other metropolitan areas,” said Health Grades spokeswoman Marsha Austin.
Health Grades researchers analyzed how hospitals performed in 26 different categories of patient care from 2007 through 2009, including heart procedures, abdominal, gall-bladder and back surgery, respiratory treatment and hip and knee replacements.
The business-funded group looks at treatment of patients enrolled in Medicare because it’s a federally funded program that allows for an “apples to apples” comparison of hospital care across state lines. It claims that results are indicative of overall care at these facilities.
The study did laud 12 New York metro-area providers as “distinguished hospitals for clinical excellence.” But only three were in New York City: New York Presbyterian’s Weill Cornell and Columbia hospitals in Manhattan and Maimonides in Brooklyn.
Five hospitals in New Jersey were recognized: Hackensack, Ocean, Morristown, Jersey Shore and Community. Other top regional medical performers were Stony Brook and Winthrop on Long Island, Vassar Brothers in Poughkeepsie and Norwalk in Connecticut.
The advocacy group for New York hospitals dismissed the results.
“We disagree with the ranking, and we think the patients from other states and countries who come to New York hospitals every day for their care would agree,” said Brian Conroy of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
But Gov. Cuomo’s office wasn’t surprised by the results, referring a reporter to Cuomo’s recent comments about New York’s performance in the Medicaid program, the health insurance for the poor.
“We are spending too much with too little to show as a result,” Cuomo said. “We spend more money on Medicaid than any other state in the nation and we are number 21 in results.”
(Source: NY Post)
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6 Responses
Well, if Maimonides Hospital is ranked among the top tier of hospitals, I shudder to think what the other hospitals must be like!
(In school, we call this kind of grading system “Marking on a curve”–the best grade in the clsass–even if it’s a dismal 50%–is redefined as 100%, and all the other students are ranked relative to that dismal grade.)
having been through the system with my mother for a few months I am absolutely not surprised!! Many mistakes were made that ultimately al pi derech hateva caused her death. It was horrific watching what is considered acceptable!!!!!! if you say anything you are persona non grata and the patient suffers. the experience has left my family with a huge fear of hospitals.
You should always look for the best care, even if it means traveling. US News and World Report gives out ranking every year in this regard. And if you have a family member in a hospital and you feel something is not right either medically or socially with their care, you must speak up. Most hospitals have patient care reps. -their purpose is to help you. They should be the first to contact -they are your advocates.
The problem with rankings like the ones in US News is that they can be finagled. For instance, their ranking of the top high schools is largely based on the number students taking AP courses. The chance of getting a high ranking leads to high schools pushing students into AP courses regardless of their appropriateness.
The ranking in this article is based on the proportion of good hospitals. So if you pick a hospital at random, you’re better off in West Palm Beach than in New York. Of course, people don’t tend to pick hospitals at random, so the ranking is bogus.
Brownsville TX is #2? That shows how bad the US healthcare system is — many South Texas residents go to Mexico for medical care!