The Rank Tank |
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Each ranking entity has its own ratings protocol , so the simple question , “ How are the rankings developed ?” has a complex answer .
U . S . News & World Report offers multiple ranking lists : “ Best Hospitals Specialty ,” “ Best Hospitals Procedure and Conditions Ratings ,” “ Best Hospitals Honor Roll ,” to name a few , along with rankings for regional and children ’ s hospitals . The methodology for the 2017-2018 “ Best Hospitals Specialty ” rankings is laid out in a publicly available , 137- page PDF . 5 Cancer centers ’ scores account for :
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a general surgeon at Advanced Surgical Care of Northern Illinois in Barrington and vice president of medical management at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Downers Grove , Illinois .
“ I ’ m coming at this from the perspective of a physician and a hospital administrator ,” he added . “ As [ the latter ], we care a great deal about these scores , but many of these companies won ’ t share their raw data unless you
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enter a consulting engagement with them , and that can be quite costly .”
The mystery surrounding the scores also limits their usefulness for patients . “ Rankings are not necessarily informative to patients because the ranking entities take so many factors and aggregate them to create a ‘ star ’ rating ,” noted Charles Dinerstein , MD , a senior medical fellow at the American Council on Science and Health , where he has written
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extensively on the pitfalls of ranking systems . “ What ’ s interesting and valuable to patients may very well be lost in the aggregation .”
According to a 2008 Health Affairs study comparing five nationwide ranking services and one state service , the potential for disagreement among ranking services “ appears likely to confuse , rather than inform , consumers .” 8 Michael Rothberg , MD , MPH , vice
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• structure ( reflecting resources that a center makes available to patients , like the number of nurses who care for patients , 30 %) |
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• process / expert opinion ( measuring a hospital ’ s reputation , based on the average number of nominations from physician surveys , 27.5 %) |
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• outcomes ( including 30-day mortality , 37.5 %) |
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• patient safety ( quantifying instances when patients may be avoidably harmed or put at risk , and taken from the Health Services Cost Review Commission all-payer database , 5 %) |