On or about December 20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will likely update its Hospital Compare website with new star ratings and release the list of hospitals receiving Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) penalties for fiscal year (FY) 2018. Corrections to the star ratings calculations likely mean that significantly fewer hospitals will receive a three-star rating this year than last. As a result, many more hospitals will receive four or five stars, while additional hospitals will receive one or two-star ratings. In the past, release of the HAC payment penalty list and the star ratings have generated media attention. 

AHA released a Quality Advisory yesterday to help organizations prepare for the public release of the star ratings and...

Twenty-one Kentucky hospitals were were recognized in U.S. News and World Report's latest rankings of the best hospitals in the country. The top seven hospitals in Kentucky (according to the magazine's recent ratings) were:

UK Chandler Medical Center, Lexington Nationally ranked in four specialties: Adult Cancer, Adult Diabetes and Endocrinology, Geriatrics and Adult Neurology and Neurosurgery High Performing in 8 Procedures/Conditions St. Elizabeth Edgewood High Performing in 8 Procedures/Conditions Baptist Health Lexington High Performing in 9 Procedures/Conditions Norton Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 6 Procedures/Conditions Baptist Health Louisville High Performing in 5 Procedures/Conditions Jewish Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 3 Procedures/Conditions Owensboro Health Regional Hospital High Performing in 3 Procedures/Conditions Fourteen additional Kentucky hospitals were recognized as High Performing facilities...

Twenty-three Kentucky hospitals were recognized in U.S. News and World Report's latest rankings of the best hospitals in the country. The top five hospitals in Kentucky (according to the magazine's recent ratings) were:

University of Kentucky, Lexington Ranked 45th nationally in Geriatrics High Performing in 8 Procedures/Conditions Baptist Health Louisville High Performing in 9 Procedures/Conditions Baptist Health Lexington High Performing in 8 Procedures/Conditions St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood High Performing in 7 Procedures/Conditions Norton Hospital, Louisville High Performing in 5 Procedures/Conditions Kosair Children's Hospital was ranked nationally in 3 children's specialties:  Diabetes & Endocrinology, Neonatology and Neurology & Neurosurgery

Seventeen additional hospitals were recognized as High Performing in at least 1 category of procedures/conditions:

Baptist Health Paducah (2 Procedures/Conditions) Ephraim...

Two new surgical ratings/rankings became available to consumers today, and AHA has provided a Member Advisory with details on both.

First, ProPublica, an independent, investigative journalism group, published a new story rating surgeons and a database scorecard. USA Today and other Gannet-owned papers featured the new database yesterday and other media outlets may follow suit. The database features “death and complication rates” for surgeons for eight elective surgical procedures and is searchable by hospital and surgeon. In its story, ProPublica shared the overall learnings from this analysis. The AHA was given the opportunity to review their analytic approach and overall findings, but not the specific ratings, and found ProPublica’s analysis and methodology faulty overall.

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In less than two weeks, U.S. News & World Report will issue its new Best Hospitals for Common Care rating system. U.S. News & World Report will portray data on more than 4,500 hospitals. The system evaluates how well hospitals perform for common conditions and procedures such as heart bypass surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Hospitals and health systems have an opportunity to review their data in advance of its publication by logging into the U.S. News Best Hospital Dashboard. Hospitals are strongly encouraged to review the data. If you do not have a login to the dashboard, you can request one at the login screen. For more information on the new rating system, please see the AHA Quality Advisory, Hospital Compare Star Ratings and Other New Hospital Rankings Coming Soon,...

Consumer Reports magazine has reported ratings of hospitals for heart-valve and coronary artery bypass surgery based on hospitals' reports to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). More than 400 hospitals in 45 states have been rated, based on "medical records showing whether patients survived the procedure and how they fared on other important measures, including complications," the magazine states.

Although more than 1,000 hospitals send data to STS, only 400 allowed it to be shared with Consumer Reports. Of those, "20 percent (83) were above average, 75 percent (310) were average and 4 percent (18) were below average," the magazine reports. Robbin Cohen, a cardiothoracic surgery professor at the University of Southern California, stated the STS has very high standards, so hospitals with average scores do a very good job.

King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland and Baptist Health Paducah were the only Kentucky hospitals ranked above average for either type of procedure — both hospitals...