How safe are NY hospitals? Health commissioner challenges Consumer Reports

The state's top health official is tackling one of the country’s best known watchdogs, over hospital safety. New York Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah, in an editorial circulated by the city's public hospital system, lashed out against Consumer Reports for its safety ratings that found fault with local institutions. The non-profit magazine "relied on incomplete data and flawed methods to draw its conclusions," Shah said. He cited Harlem Hospital, Beth Israel and New York Presbyterian as examples of hospitals deemed by Consumer Reports to have unsafe levels of healthcare-associated infections but considered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be "better than the national average."