If you understand statistics and possess the intestinal fortitude to examine a ranking methodology, you will recognize that it involves ingredients that have to be recombined, repackaged and renamed. It's messy, like sausage-making. This is not to say that the end product — hospital rankings — are distasteful. Patients deserve valid, transparent and timely information […]
patient safety indicators
Potential Bias in U.S. News Patient Safety Scores
Posted by | Measurement of Safety and Quality, Preventing Patient HarmIn this post, I present the case that U.S. News & World Report’s patient safety score, a component of its annual Best Hospitals rankings, has a bias against Maryland hospitals. Two editors at U.S. News respond to my position at the bottom of the post. Hospitals can get overwhelmed by the array of ratings, rankings […]
Why Health Care Performance Measures Need Their Own Grades
Posted by | Measurement of Safety and QualitySome measures of health care quality and patient safety should be taken with a grain of salt. A few need a spoonful. In April, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers published an article examining how well a state of Maryland pay-for-performance program measure for dangerous blood clots identified cases that were potentially preventable. In reviewing […]