Lisa McGiffert, an analyst for Consumers Union is criticizing Iowa's idea of letting a private group cofounded by the Iowa Hospital Association handle patient safety data instead of having government officials do it. The proposal would require hospitals to report patient-safety and pricing information to a group called the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. The Collaborative was founded by the Iowa Hospital Association and the Iowa Medical Society, and McGiffert says she is concerned the data may be biased as a result.
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah is asking patients to anonymously rate their doctors' bedside manner and things like ease of parking and check-in efficiency on a scale of 1 to 5. Those scores have been available online, and soon customers will be able to post comments about their experiences at the insurer's Web site.
A Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Health-Care Poll shows most adults favor the use of patient satisfaction surveys to determine healthcare quality above all other quality measures. Of those surveyed, more than half said it is also fair to measure healthcare quality based on the use of electronic medical records.
The American Alliance of Healthcare Providers has released its list of winners in the annual Hospital of Choice Awards. The honor recognizes America's most "consumer-friendly" hospitals.
The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's annual analysis to help health leaders identify areas of healthcare delivery that need quality improvement now includes information such as each state's rate of obesity, health insurance coverage, mental illness and the number of specialist doctors. The updated State Snapshots Web tool also tracks each states' progress toward reaching government-set health goals for 2010.
In some states, ambulance crews who suspect a stroke are required to seek out a designated stroke center, unless the nearest one is an unreasonable distance away. Now health officials in Virginia and Washington, DC, are considering similar plans. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has signed a bill requiring local health officials to rush stroke patients to Joint Commission-certified primary stroke centers. In Washington, DC, the medical director of Fire and Emergency Medical Services said he soon will issue a protocol requiring transport of suspected stroke patients to Joint Commission-certified stroke centers.