Do you have a hospital you automatically go to for medical procedures?  Most of us do. But being the largest or most popular hospital doesn’t always mean the best.

A recent study by Consumer Reports revealed that patients should choose a hospital based on the experience of the medical facility and their surgeon, as well as facts about patient results, not on emotions or a hospital’s popularity.

When choosing a hospital, ask yourself these questions:

• What’s the percentage of patients who contract dangerous infections while in the hospital?  Are the infections due to uncleanliness of the hospital and/or improper washing-up of the staff?  Are they due to a lack of patient care?
• What’s the percentage of patients who have to be readmitted after they’re discharged, or who die while in the hospital?
• How many times has the hospital performed the medical procedure you’re having?  The more the better.
• Are you getting the personal attention you need?  Although they are usually very good hospitals, teaching hospitals have a frequently changing staff, which may make it difficult for you to communicate with doctors and nurses.

Consumer Reports listed several websites to help you find the information you need to make the best decisions. All of the sites explain very well why the data is important and how it was collected.  I’ve researched each of them and narrowed them down based on ease of use and information available:

www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare – Plug in your zip code, choose 3 hospitals from the list and compare information.  Click a tab at the top of the page to compare things such as Readmissions, Complications and Deaths.

www.jointcommission.org – This website has a vast amount of educational information that I would encourage anyone to read. However, if you want to review hospital specific information, choose Quality Check under the Quick Links box and search your hospital, state or zip code.

www.hospitalsafetyscore.org – Very easy to use. Type your hospital and search.  Data reviewed for all general acute care hospitals.  More than 2,600 hospitals received a score.

www.healthgrades.com – Very easy to use. Type your hospital and search.  The tabs across the top allow you to review such things as patient safety and readmission rates.  If you look at the details you are able to see how many procedures the results were based on.

I hope this will help you and your family make informed decisions about hospital care.