Patient hospital scores may provide insight into health outcomes

The way that patients rate their experience in a hospital may provide some useful insight into the quality of care at the facility. That’s according to a new study co-authored by Ashish Jha, K.T. Li Professor of International Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services lets patients grade their hospital experiences, and the study found that “five-star” hospitals had lower average patient death rates and re-admitted fewer patients.

Jha told Reuters in an April 12, 2016 article, “If you use the star rating you’re more likely to end up at a high quality hospital,” but that shouldn’t be the only factor patients consider when choosing a hospital.

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Read the Reuters article, “Medicare ‘hospital star rating’ may correspond to patient outcomes”

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