By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    bowl of vegetable salad
    Raw Foods: benefits and harms
    November 9, 2021
    pros and cons of the keto diet
    Read This Before You Follow the Keto Diet
    May 18, 2022
    spinal cord injuries
    4 Potential Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries (and How to Seek Compensation)
    May 25, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    TBI: Some Surprising Statistics
    February 9, 2016
    Your Keys to Safer, Even More Secure Healthcare Cloud Services
    January 13, 2015
    4 Career Options in Healthcare Industry that Combine Big Data & Healthcare
    February 5, 2021
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Teaching Hospital Comparisons Benefit from Context
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Medical Education > Teaching Hospital Comparisons Benefit from Context
Medical Education

Teaching Hospital Comparisons Benefit from Context

Joanne Conroy
Joanne Conroy
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

The Dartmouth Atlas Project released a study on October 30, 2012, entitled, “What Kind of Physician Will You Be? Variation in Health Care and Its Importance for Residency Training.” The data, and the conclusions of the report’s authors, bear closer examination.

The Dartmouth Atlas Project released a study on October 30, 2012, entitled, “What Kind of Physician Will You Be? Variation in Health Care and Its Importance for Residency Training.” The data, and the conclusions of the report’s authors, bear closer examination.

The data set focuses on the differences in the intensity of services that Medicare patients receive, and highlights the academic medical centers rated by U.S. News and World Report as the best hospitals for clinical excellence in 2012-13. The 24-page report, authored by two Geisel Medical School students, was issued to inform medical students about the practices at teaching hospitals where they may receive further training.

All data is helpful, but it only begins the conversation. The authors hold underlying assumptions and perpetrate inconsistencies in their analysis that should be addressed. I don’t suggest dismissing their findings, but rather proceeding with caution.

More Read

Head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division Raises Concerns About Two Proposed Mega-Mergers Between Leading Health Insurers
A Nurse’s Letter to the Interns
Important Tips For Positive Mental Health At Work
Why Hospitals Need to Think Globally
PATIENT RESPONSE: Giving Voice to the Patient

First, the authors include publicly available information from Hospital Compare , but don’t highlight patient mortality as a quality indicator. Of the seven hospitals in the United States that have attained four successive “Better than U.S. National Rate” ratings for all three 30-day death measures on heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia patients, several are prominently displayed at the top of the “intensity of care” list.

These hospitals, and their rank on the Dartmouth list, are:

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA (#1)
  • Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ (#29)
  • Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY (#5)
  • Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL (#2)
  • New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY (#45)
  • NYU Hospitals Center, New York, NY (#9)
  • Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (#73)

What does it mean to be on that list? For the 2012 update, to achieve even a single “Better than U.S. National Rate” rating, a hospital must be in the top 2 to 4 percent. There are 22 facilities that achieved all three “Better” ratings — about 0.45 percent of nearly 5,000 hospitals reporting. These seven hospitals are better than 99.85 percent of the reporting hospitals — an extremely difficult achievement! (The data cited here is courtesy of Alein Chun, PhD, IQCP Manager, Data Quality Management Unit (DQMU), Cedars-Sinai.)

This begs the question, does a greater intensity of care lead to decrease in mortality in complex patients?

Context for the data is extremely important — and enlightening. New York’s Mount Sinai scores very low on the metric reflecting the percentage of patients referred to hospice in the last six months of life. However, Mount Sinai has one of the premier palliative care programs in the country. The inpatient surgical rate for knee replacement was highest in Salt Lake City, Utah. Does that data reflect a population that self-selects, because many 65-year-old ski bums have winter homes in the Wasatch Mountains?

Data is critical for generating the information we need to identify problems and create solutions, to better manage the health of populations and best deploy our resources. But data is not, in itself, knowledge. It must be analyzed, put into context, and thoughtfully debated to become information, which is then deployed to knowledge. The release of the Dartmouth Atlas Project report creates a great opportunity for all teaching hospitals to reflect on how they are delivering care; and to begin the important conversations about the differences in regional and population utilization.

 

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Recruiting Patients for Studies Getting Easier

March 20, 2013

Promising Nursing Careers Beyond the Bedside

February 6, 2014

Be Inspired: 3 Ways to Originate the Content Your Patients Want

February 22, 2016
preparing for and succeeding in medical school
Medical EducationNewsPolicy & Law

How To Prepare For Medical School And Maximize Results

May 16, 2022
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?