Hospital Quality Guide Methodology 2007 - 2008 11
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May not be reprinted or reproduced without permission from Health Grades, Inc.
Cost
Cost (the amount the hospital typically charges for treating this medical issue) is indicated with dollar signs.
Three dollar signs ($$$) shows the hospital is within the normal cost range for that medical issue,
compared with other hospitals in the same state. One dollar sign ($) is less costly than the norm and five
($$$$$) is more costly. The Hospital Quality Guide provides a legend showing the range, in dollars, for
each category.
Hospitals labeled $ are at least one standard deviation below the average cost for the state where your
search originated. Hospitals labeled $$$$$ are one standard deviation above that average.
Length of Stay
Length of Stay (the time spent in the hospital from admission to discharge) is designated as Short, Average,
or Long, compared with other hospitals in the same state. The Hospital Quality Guide provides a legend
showing the range, in days or weeks, for each category.
Hospitals labeled Short are at least one standard deviation below the average length of stay for the state
where your search originated. Hospitals labeled Long are one standard deviation above the average.
Distance from Search Origination
The distance shown is base on the radius from the center of the area that you entered for your search.
Data Model Limitations
While the models outlined in this document may be valuable in identifying hospitals that perform better than
others, one should not use this information by itself to determine the quality of care provided at each
hospital. The models are limited by the following factors:
·
Cases may have been coded incorrectly or incompletely by the hospital.
·
The models can only account for risk factors that are coded into the billing data. If a particular risk
factor was not coded into the billing data, such as a patient's socioeconomic status or health
behavior, then it was not accounted for with these models.
·
Although HealthGrades has taken steps to carefully compile these data using its proprietary
methodology, no techniques are infallible, and therefore some information may be missing,
outdated, or incorrect.
Please note that a high ranking for a particular hospital is not a recommendation or endorsement of a
particular hospital by Health Grades, Inc. It means that the data associated with that hospital has met the
foregoing qualifications. Only the individual patient can decide whether a particular hospital is suited for his
or her unique needs.
Also note that if more than one hospital reported under a single provider ID, healthgrades analyzed patient
outcome data for those hospitals as a single unit. Throughout this document, therefore, "hospital" refers to
one hospital or a group of hospitals reporting under a single provider ID.
