This site is based on the assumption that 50% of hospital visits can be prevented by exercise and nutrition, 35% by alternative medicine, and 10% by electronic medicine. The remaining 5% deserve careful attention because your odds of dying in a poorly rated hospital are more than twice the odds of dying in a highly rated hospital for serious conditions. See a recent article in Advances for Health Information Executives. I’m partial to this journal because they rated me one of the 15 most influential people in healthcare IT in 2000. At least someone thinks that people follow my recommendations. But I digress …
HealthGrades posts ratings for many conditions for most hospitals. Five stars is good. One star is bad. The chart above shows that survival is much higher in good hospitals vs. bad hospitals. You can drill down on the HealthGrades web site and see that a good hospital, like Massachusetts General, is highly compliant with the LeapFrog Group’s recommendations for patient safety.