Hospital CEO publishes infection rates on blog

In August, Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in Boston, began writing an Internet Web log ("blog") called "Running a Hospital." Recently, Levy has received a mixture of praise and criticism for publishing hospital infection rates on his blog.

Levy has challenged other hospitals to publicize their infection rates, a step that is also being pushed nationally by patient advocates. Levy said he is puzzled by the reluctance of other hospitals to publicly disclose infection rates.

"If I can post these rates for BIDMC, why can't people from other hospitals?" Levy asked on his blog. "I am seeking no competitive advantage here. This is an attempt to get past a culture of blame and litigation and persuade people that transparency works: Real-time public disclosure of key indicators like this (not the untimely publication of "process" metrics) can be mutually instructive and can help provide an incentive to all of us to do better."

On his blog, Levy writes about issues ranging from the troubles with new health technologies and medical malpractice, and publishes lighter items such as jokes and cartoons.

Levy also used his blog to criticize Partners HealthCare, the parent organization of Mass. General and Brigham and Women's, about their market share of patients, saying they get paid more from insurers because of their size, according to the Boston Globe.

Partners executives declined to comment to the Globe. "What's a blog?" said chief operating officer Thomas Glynn when asked about Levy's blog.

Sources: Blog tests hospital leaders' patience: Beth-Israel CEO jabs competitors, Boston Globe, Feb. 23, 2007.

"Running a Hospital," Paul Levy, http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/, accessed Feb. 28, 2007.