New York area hospitals are among the worst in the nation when it comes to safety

A recent study on safety in hospitals conducted by Consumer Reports shows that hospitals are not a safe place to be.

For this study Consumer Reports magazine ranked more than 2000 hospitals based on the following criteria:

-Infections aquired in hospitals
-likelyhood to be re-admitted in 30 days
-communication issues around drugs and discharge
-likelyhood to get too many CT scans
-likelyhood of complications

Dr John Santa, director of Consumer Reports’ Health Ratings Center, was recently on “CBS This Morning” (see video below) to express his concerns.

In the New York area, out of 70 hospitals studied, 58 hospitals rank below the national average when it comes to safety.

Among these hospitals 27 out of the 28 teaching hospitals are scoring below average with some of them among the worst of the nation. The only teaching hospital in the New York region that scores above average is the the Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, NY with a safety score of 58 out of 100.

Teaching hospitals are supposed to lead by example as they are training the future doctors of our nation. It is an alarming fact that most teaching hospitals in the New York area are actually the most unsafe in the country.

In the New York area, the worst teaching hospitals when it comes to safety are the Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. with 22 points, the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Health Care System in the Bronx, N.Y. with 25 points, the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. with 28 points, Harlem Hospital Center in New York City with 28 points and the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y. with 29 points.

Among the nation teaching hopsitals, The University of Connecticut Health Center, John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington with 17 points out of 100, has the lowest safety score.

For all hospitals in the country the average score was 49. The Clinch Valley Medical Center in Richlands, Va., with 14 points is the worst in the country in term of safety.

With 74 points Bellin Memorial Hospital in Green Bay, Wis. is considered the safest Hospital in the Nation by the Consumer Report.

Source: Consumer Report Magazine, May 2013