N.Y. association: Some hospital report cards don't make the grade

The old adage that grades aren’t everything appears to be true for hospitals as well as schools. Five of the 10 hospital “report cards” evaluated were given low marks in “HANYS’ Report On Report Cards,” published earlier this week by the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) for use as an educational resource for hospital leaders and their boards.

The association used criteria based on academic research and National Quality Forum recommendations to assess report cards issued by government and private organizations. Criteria included whether the report card used a transparent methodology, measures grounded in scientific evidence, recent data, and whether hospitals had a chance to review the findings before publication to pinpoint errors. Report cards from US News & World Report, Consumer Reports, and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Score were among the low performers. The HANYS report gave highest marks to CMS Hospital Compare and The Joint Commission Quality Check, among others.