The September 2013 Edition of Consumer Reports on Hospital Surgery shows that Hillsdale Community Health Center ranks among the top hospitals in Michigan for surgical safety and prevention of complications. Consumer Reports looked at records from 2,463 hospitals across the nation and lists the top hospitals in Michigan as well as all other states in their findings. HCHC appears near the top of the Michigan list. Consumer Reports discusses the lack of transparency in reportable data and the lack of usable data available to the public in choosing a facility. What the data does show however, is that oftentimes the hospital with the big names and big city reputations don’t always perform the best. In this report, on average, rural hospitals actually performed better than urban hospitals. As an example, the Mayo Clinic Health System in Minnesota actually received an overall low rating.
Hillsdale Community Health Center has been working to improve processes across all service lines and especially in our surgical suite, where attention to detail and safety are the most critical. Most recently, HCHC has put into practice several new safety initiatives to align with industry best practices and standards. This attention to detail has improved not only our outcomes of care, but our overall patient satisfaction as well. Consumer Reports rankings of quality are based on death rates and patients whose stay in the hospital is longer than expected. In addition there are many other metrics collected by HCHC that demonstrate our high level of quality care. Measures such as appropriate antibiotic selection, antibiotic start and stop times and even medicines delivered to prevent blood clots (a very serious issue for all hospital patients, but most critical in patients undergoing surgery). All of these metrics are publicly reported on the CMS website – www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare, and we are happy to report that Hillsdale Community Health Center meets or exceeds the average scores of all Michigan Hospitals for each of these metrics (given that the average scores are 96% and higher, this is quite a feat).
In addition to safe surgical practices, HCHC has embarked on a journey to develop a “Culture of Safety” in all of our practices and services. From such simple things as proper hand hygiene to the most sophisticated practice of prevention of surgical site infections as well as proper hand-offs of patients from shift to shift and from department to department to prevent missed or miscommunication, all are critical in keeping patients safe and preventing infection or needless readmission.
HCHC is committed to not only providing “5 star” patient care, but in providing it in the most effective, cost efficient and safety conscious way. We are initiating the Culture of Safety project for one reason – you, our patients. If you don’t feel safe at our hospital, then we have failed you. It is our mission that all patients feel respected, safe and receive the best possible care – every patient…every time…always!
Feel free to check out HCHC on Hospital Compare and see all of the data that is collected and reported along with comparisons to any other area hospital you may be considering. HCHC welcomes the comparison.
