HealthGrades surprises with picks for top cities for hospital care
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As part of its 10th annual "HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence" study, HealthGrades identified those hospitals performing in the top 5 percent across the U.S. with 26 different medical procedures and diagnoses, then ranked cities by highest percentage of these Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.
Baltimore ranked No. 1 in the U.S., with nine top-performing hospitals out of 19 eligible hospitals. Rounding out the top 10 markets for hospital care quality were: Phoenix/Prescott, Ariz.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Richmond, Va.; Cincinnati; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; St. Louis; Hartford/New Haven, Conn.; and Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, Mich., respectively.
The Top Cities for Hospital Care list is based on the percent of Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence award recipients compared to the number that are eligible in that particular city.
These hospitals are “leading the way in reducing mortality and complication rates and to provide consumers access to this information,” according to the Denver-based HealthGrades. In some instances, the firm said that the top cities in this report can make the claim that almost half of their hospitals provide this level of care including: Baltimore (47 percent), Phoenix/Prescott, Ariz., (44 percent), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, (43 percent) and Richmond, Va. (43 percent).
Other key findings from the study include:
- Distinguished Hospitals can be found in 38 states. The top cities for hospital quality, determined by having the most Distinguished Hospitals in a Designated Market Area, are found in 26 states.
- Specifically, Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence had a 30 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality rate and a 1.8 percent lower risk-adjusted in-hospital complication rate among Medicare beneficiaries compared to all other hospitals.
- In fact, if all hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, 165,704 Medicare lives could potentially have been saved and 6,800 Medicare in-hospital complications could potentially have been avoided.
The cities, ranking 11 through 25, are:
11. Fort Myers, Fla.;
12. Cleveland;
13. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.;
14. Indianapolis;
15. Chicago;
16. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.;
17. Brownsville, Texas;
18. Greenville, S.C.;
19. Toledo, Ohio;
20. Knoxville, Tenn.;
21. Detroit;
22. Los Angeles;
23. Santa Barbara, Calif.;
24. La Crosse/Eau Claire, Wis.; and
25. Columbia/Jefferson City, Mo.