Virginia Health Information (VHI) published 20 new hospital quality measures to help Virginians make more informed choices when choosing hospitals. The measures include mortality rates for pneumonia and stroke and results of care such as blood clots and accidental cuts and tears during treatment as well as more than a dozen other measures including many patient safety topics.
The report which is available at www.vhi.org/monahrq allows consumers to compare quality ratings either by one or more hospitals for a specific health topic or by one or more health topics for up to five hospitals. The quality measures are produced after evaluating all patient discharges from Virginia hospitals and are nationally endorsed for use in public reporting of hospital quality.
Virginia hospitals often perform better than national averages. For some of the most serious errors, too few occurred to be rated—a good sign for Virginia consumers.
VHI's quality of care measures are VHI's latest tools to help Virginians make informed health care decisions. Learning about health care conditions, their treatment and management are important ways to help you speak with your doctor about what is important to you.
Other publications include VHI's consumer guides to Virginia Hospitals, Hospital Patient Satisfaction, Cardiac Care and Health Care Prices for 31 common hospital and physician services.
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