How To Use The Web To Give Your Hospital A Checkup

Not so long ago, if you wanted to get detailed information about the quality of care at your local hospital, you had to write letters or make phone calls and probably wait a long time to receive a report by mail. Today, thanks to the Web you can get that type of information in a matter of minutes and with just a few clicks of your mouse-if you know where to look, of course!

A particularly useful site to check when you're researching hospitals is Hospital Compare, a website created by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Hospital Quality Alliance.

From the site:

Hospital Compare displays rates for Process of Care measures that show how often hospitals provide some of the care that is recommended for patients being treated for a heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia, or patients having surgery. Hospitals voluntarily submit data from their medical records about the treatments their adult patients receive for these conditions, including patients with Medicare and those who do not have Medicare.

To see how your local hospital measures up, go to Hospital Compare and type in the hospital's name and state in the appropriate text entry boxes at the bottom of the page, and then click Next Step. Just continue following the instructions the site provides and you'll eventually see how your local hospital compares in some key areas of medical care.