After concerning symptoms arise, a doctor may diagnose a serious condition or illness that requires intensive treatment or an operation. Many patients question the diagnosis and look to family and friends for recommendations for a second opinion. The next doctor may give you the same diagnosis or something completely different. Who can you trust in this situation?
Federal Hospital Report Card Versus Florida Hospital Report Card
Both the feds and the state of Florida want to make it easier for patients to obtain information about their medical caregivers and the hospitals where they are treated so that patients can make a more informed decision about their healthcare options. The Florida hospital report card provides basic information on total annual hospitalizations, average low cost of care and average high cost of care, and the average length of stay.
The Florida report care is searchable by county and procedure type. For example, a search of Marion County hospitals that treat breast cancer patients shows that Munroe Regional Medical Center and Ocala Regional Medical Center handled 21 and 7 cases, respectively, in 2009.
The federal healthcare report card, Hospital Compare, is much more extensive. Using the Hospital Compare report, Ocala residents might compare the Ocala Regional Medical Center with the Munroe Regional Medical Center, and find differences in patient satisfaction, mortality outcomes, hospital patient safety protocols, the number of Medicare patients served, and other distinguishing factors.
Hospital Compare quantifies the patient outcomes and experiences into numbers to allow patients more useful information to make healthcare choices when planning an elective surgery. But even people with no health issues can use Hospital Compare for information on best response times after an accident or other emergency medical issue.
Poor Patient Results by the Numbers
Hospital Compare and the Florida hospital report card allow patients the chance to get to know their Florida physicians and hospitals a little better - they can see what other patients have experienced. This knowledge may allow patients to find the best medical treatment for their condition and to avoid medical malpractice and poor patient outcomes in hospitals where the numbers seem to indicate it is more prevalent.
