title: Evaluating hospital quality for vascular surgery.
abstract: Increasingly, there is a wealth of data available to aid patients in determining where to seek care for quality vascular disease. At times, these data may be difficult for the public to comprehend. Hospital rating organizations, frequently motivated by profit, are marketing directly to consumers with increasingly granular data. In this report, we examine the most popular ratings for hospitals that perform vascular surgical procedures and describe the methodology of each rating system, as well as the validity of the data underscoring these ratings. Understanding how hospital quality is being evaluated and what outcomes measures are being collated allows vascular surgeons to take appropriate actions to ensure the validity of their own hospital ratings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Policy and Outcomes and Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy, University of Michigan, Section of Vascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Center 5168, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, SPC 5867, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5867; Center for Clinical Management Research, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI. Electronic address: nichosbo@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Osborne
mesh_terms: D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D000067088:Direct-to-Consumer Advertising; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000592:standards*