Las Vegas NowStudy Rates all Hospitals, Including in Nevada

Study Rates all Hospitals, Including in Nevada

A new study is showing large gaps between the top-rated and lowest-rated hospitals when it comes to care and diagnoses. According to the 12th annual Hospital Quality in America Study, patients have a 52-percent lower chance of dying at top-rated hospitals compared to the U.S. hospital average. 

The study looked at trends in mortality and complication rates for 28 different procedures,  from heart attack, to knee replacement surgery, to pneumonia for patients 65 and older.

Hospitals were rated on a five star system system. Most Nevada hospital rated as average with three stars. Nevada was among the top five states that showed the most improvement in hip and knee replacement surgery, hip fracture repair and spine surgery.

For cardiac specialist Dr. Keith Boman, the newly released hospital ratings for the state of Nevada aren't much of a surprise. "I think some are better than others. I think some hospitals do this better and others do that better," he said.

Health Grades, an independent healthcare ratings company, rated 30 different hospitals in Nevada. Of the 30 hospitals in the study, 3-percent were considered top rated, about 87-percent were average, and 10-percent were rated poor. "In general, I think the care is good. In general, I don't think that the statistic are telling us we have bad hospitals," said Boman.

For patients like Randy Reinoso, it's the poorly rated hospitals that worry him. "I would like to know what those hospitals are and avoid them if I was ever in need of a hospital," he said.

Highest on the list of poorly rated types of care are cardiac surgery. Dr. Boman says it's likely because of the lack of specialized programs at any one certain facility. "It's hard to standardize and I think in some instances the quality can suffer," he said.

Boman recommends any potential patient to do their homework before picking a hospital. "They need to look these things up on the internet and talk to their friends and find out where the best care might be," he said.

None of the Nevada hospitals that took part in this study were identified.