Report gives hospitals failing grade

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Sick patients expect to get better when they go to the hospital, but sometimes medical mistakes only make matters worse. A new study ranks hospital safety and many in Western New York are not making the grade.

Consumer Reports looked at five measures: re-admissions, complications, communication, the overuse of CT scans and infections. According to the report, most hospitals need to improve.

Consumer Reports examined data from more than 2,000 hospitals across the country, with the average score being 49 out of 100.

Dr. John Santa of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center said, "I'm sad to say that I think in many hospitals the number one priority is making money."

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center and Mt. St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston were rated highest in safety in the Western New York region.

RN Nancy Rotella, Director of Quality Improvement at the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, said, "Patient safety has been an important focus here and we're very encouraged to see that our efforts have been recognized."

Other area hospitals rated above average, including Mercy Hospital and Sisters of Charity.

Catholic Health Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety John Kane said, "We're not perfect yet. But we're getting there."

Kane says there are more than 200 of these kinds of report out there. He says they're evaluated for opportunities within them, and then used to improve outcomes based on what the report has to offer.

"[A patient looking at this report] should take away that the devil is in the detail, and that they should contact the provider and really talk about the reports. Talk about their limitations. Talk about the quality and patient safety program within that facility," Kane said.

According to consumer reports, Kaleida Health and Medina Memorial Hospital ranked in the bottom for safety. Dr. Santa says most hospitals in the study are not making the grade.

"This remains a huge problem," he said. Hospitals are dangerous places to be."

Kane acknowledged that hospitals can be dangerous, but added, "It depends upon how aggressive the individual organization is about the patient safety measures. Our organization...it's our critical, number one focus."

Medina Memorial Hospital released a statement saying the report has sections "not yet rated" which adversely impacts the overall safety score. The full statements says:

"Orleans Community Health is committed to providing high quality care to the community.  The report has sections "not yet rated" which adversely impacts the overall safety score.  OCH has a rigorous quality assurance and improvement program and this report will be reviewed to identify future opportunities."

Additionally, the hospital states that it has a rigorous quality assurance and improvement program, and that the report will be reviewed to identify future opportunities.

Kaleida Health responded to the report with this statement:

"This is one of dozens of report cards and publicly available quality databanks, many of which often contradict each other. For example, our services and hospitals have won numerous national quality awards in the past. While we recognize that we have had challenges in the past as stated in the Consumer Report, we remain committed to improving our clinical outcomes. Kaleida Health is the area's provider of choice when it comes to numerous services, including cardiac care, stroke, vascular, pediatrics, orthopaedics and more. We believe the move to transparency and growing availability of public data will contribute to improving quality of care for the patients we serve and assist the transformation of the health care delivery system that is already underway."

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