Summary
The Commonwealth Fund has integrated data from patient survey results and a website, Hospital Compare, to create a new quality ranking system designed to "fill the gaps" which other ranking systems incompletely address. Specifically, this ranking system allows direct comparison between and among hospitals in addition to offering participating hospitals the resources to improve practices and systems to achieve even better quality scores. Companies which may be poised to prosper as a result of this new rating system include those hospitals which maintain high quality rankings and heath insurance providers who utilize these rankings as a tool for cost-savings and "pay for performance." On a larger scale, internet corporations who help support this type of "content-focused" health information system will stand to profit from the trend towards more globally rating health care delivery.
Analysis
Hospital rating systems are proliferating at a rapid rate. Their intent is to improve quality care and at the same time inform and educate both patients and hospital systems. One of the newest to be introduced has been developed by the Commonwealth Fund and uses data obtained from Hospital Patient Surveys and a website (Hospital Compare) which extracts information from the organizations of Hospital Quality Assurance (HQA), as well as Medicare and Medicaid (HMS). The result is a ranking system which differs from other ranking systems in that direct comparisons may be made between and among the 4500 participating hospitals. And, as a further distinction, it provides resources in the form of best-practices to improve individual hospitals' scores.
Those who stand to benefit most from these and other ranking systems include: patients--access to this type of information will educate and motivate decision-making towards the best quality; hospitals--those hospitals who are able to incorporate "best-practices" successfully will evolve into prosperous and influential entities; health insurance delivery--these corporations must intelligently use the quality rating systems to identify areas of cost-savings as well as "pay for performance"; internet corporations--the internet information age has engulfed the current healthcare delivery trends. Specifically, the trend towards the integration of large volumes of patient, hospital and physician data will require internet systems focused on organizing and securing a user-friendly platform.
In summary, the Commonwealth Fund rating system represents a step in the positive direction for hospitals, physicians and patients. Further ideas for development in the future include creating a universal rating system that incorporates the various fragmented rating systems into a central repository of information.
