Blog by W. Stephen Love, President/CEO, DFW Hospital Council

During my high school years, I worked after school at a local grocery store. I remember the confusion of customers when looking at grades given to fresh fruits and vegetables by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The top grade of apples was U.S. Extra Fancy, oranges was U.S. Fancy and potatoes was U.S. Extra No. 1, to name a few. When I was restocking produce, customers would ask me, “Do these grades really help me make good consumer decisions?”

I’ve been asked about hospital grades recently and had immediate flashbacks to that produce counter in a small rural store in Virginia. Now don’t get me wrong, clearly the health and well-being of patients is the single most important mission of any provider. This notion of provider grades is similar to my experiences in the grocery store and can be confusing. Medicare’s Hospital Compare, Consumer Reports, Health Grades, The Joint Commission, Leapfrog, U.S. News and World Report are just a sampling of hospital grades and comparisons.

The concern is each system uses its own methodology, sometimes reaching wildly divergent conclusions. This provides confusion rather than clarity. Ratings fluctuate significantly from year to year, utilizing stale data and are not properly adjusted for risks associated with patient types. The most recent Star Ratings did not properly account for socioeconomic factors, type of hospital, reason for readmission and the data had not been fully validated.

New research from the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality found only one measure out of 21 that met the scientific criteria for being a true indicator of patient safety. Several public rating systems utilize these measures so the information could misguide patients. “These measures have the ability to misinform patients, misclassify hospitals, misapply financial data and cause unwarranted reputational harm to hospitals,” said Bradford Winters, MD, PhD and lead author on the study.

The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture eventually standardized grades for fruits and vegetables and we will do the same for providers. In the meantime, please know that hospitals support transparency. So ask your providers to give you quality and patient safety information with outcomes so you make informed healthcare decisions.