Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, JAMA, Outcomes & Safety, Surgical Research / 31.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ninh T. Nguyen, MD Department of Surgery University of California Irvine Medical Center Orange, California MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The US World & News Report publishes each year on top ranked hospitals for specific specialties. These ratings are promoted nationally and used by patients and physicians in making decisions about where to receive care for challenging conditions or common elective procedures. Bariatric, colorectal and hiatal hernia procedures are common gastrointestinal operations being performed at most hospitals. Seeking care for these operations specifically at top 50 ranked hospitals can pose significant logistic and financial constraints for most patients. The objective of this study was to determine whether top ranked hospitals (RHs) in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery (GGS) have improved outcomes for advanced laparoscopic abdominal surgery compared to non-ranked hospitals (NRHs). (more…)
Author Interviews, Outcomes & Safety / 11.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bala N. Hota, MD Department of Internal Medicine Rush Medical College Chicago, IL MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There has been a proliferation of online ranking systems that seek to rate the quality of health care systems. Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) has consistently scored highly on patient safety measurement systems. For example, RUMC has received nine consecutive “A” grades for safety from the Leapfrog Group, and was recently ranked “4 stars” in the CMS 2016 star ranking system. In the 2015-2016 US News and World Report Ranking System, however, Rush received a low score for quality, a 1 out of 5 possible points, which was a surprise. To understand these results, the RUMC quality team began a process to validate the data and methods of the US News hospital ranking system. What was found was a surprise – the data backing the ranking system produced by US News had flaws, leading to the low score. Specifically, data were missing from the data set used for the US News analysis, including whether a condition was present on admission in 10% of cases; dates of service were also missing from all cases. The quality team at RUMC then conducted an analysis using national data, and simulated the impact of these data flaws on national rankings. (more…)