How to use hospital quality scores

What do these numbers mean?  Using the reports  About the scores

Using quality of care scores to get better care

Quality scores on this website tell you how well hospitals in Oregon care for patients with a wide range of health problems. The information can be used to:

• Help you choose a hospital for yourself,
• Provide useful information for your loved ones if they need hospital care,
• Encourage hospitals to improve their quality, and
• Help everyone learn more about hospital quality.

Don’t people get good care in any hospital their doctor recommends? Here are the facts:

• All hospitals do not provide the same quality of care. Some hospitals are better than others.
• A particular hospital might do a very good job of caring for patients with some health problems and not such a good job caring for patients with other health problems.
• Whenever anyone goes to the hospital, there is a chance they could get a new health problem while getting treatment for an existing problem.
• Hospitals vary in how well they protect patients from these risks.
• Your doctor, or the specialist or surgeon he or she recommends, may be highly skilled, but hospital quality also depends on how well all the hospital staff, such as the nurses, take care of you, and on how well the hospital is organized.

Given those facts, our goal is to give you information you can use to increase your chances of getting the best possible hospital care when you need it.

What can you do?

You can use the hospital quality scores on this website to make comparisons. Talk with your doctor about these scores.

Here are things to know:

• These scores use data provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which collects hospital performance information through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). You can look at this data for hospitals throughout the country by going to www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. (See data details about how the quality information is collected and how the scores are calculated).
• A hospital's quality is more than just the scores we show on this website. Hospitals provide care for other illnesses and conditions that these scores don’t cover. And hospitals are working to improve the care they provide.
• These scores can help you be a better-informed patient, but they are not intended to give you medical advice or suggestions for treatment.
• You can use these scores, together with other information, when you and your doctor are making decisions about the best way for you to get the care you need.
• Be sure to discuss these hospital quality scores with your doctor. These scores are not intended to provide medical advice or suggestions for treatment. Rather, it is here to help you become a more informed patient and guide the important discussions you will want to have with your doctor -- especially when you are faced with important health care decisions.