Top Rated Hospitals Out-Perform Others

In one of the biggest no-brainer statements I’ve ever seen, a report this week said that the highest rated hospitals consistently save more lives and have fewer patient care or procedure related complications.

I think that this would be common knowledge. They are the best rated in care so it would follow that they would be better at maintaining or saving lives.

What I don’t think many of us think about is just what that means in real numbers. This study looks at the real numbers in patient lives affected by these facts.

Looking at more than 40 million hospitalizations over a 3 year period, the study found that if all hospitals performed as well as the top 5 percent the following would have been true:

1. More than 171,000 lives saved
2. Almost 10,000 major in-hospital complications avoided
3. Ongoing improvement programs decrease above numbers by 15%

Do you know how the facilities near you perform? As an EMT or Paramedic who are listeners to the podcast or visit this site, you should know about the performance and abilities associated with the hospitals near you.