At 68 percent, Auburn Memorial Hospital has the lowest heart failure care quality in comparison to 12 other regional hospitals, according to a new state Health Department hospital profile Web site launched this week to help consumers compare and contrast the state's 229 hospitals.
But there's a catch to that figure, which judges the care when a heart's pumping power weakens.
Two mandatory figures reported to the state Department of Health make up that composite score: 68 percent, or 111 of 163, patients had their left ventricular function assessed, which is important because the left side of the heart can be weakened because of heart failure; and 43 percent, or 52 of 122 patients, were sent home with written instructions for their care.
It's not that AMH staff are falling down on the job, said AMH administrator Brendan McGrath and state health department officials Friday. It's that the assessment of left ventricular function and written instructions were completed, but often were not documented.
This lapse in documentation in patient files often happens when medical care is a matter of course and isn't considered special to note, they said.
Those medical reports with unfilled data are included in the information the hospital is required to report to the health department on a quarterly basis, and now, the incomplete reports compose the information listed at the state's new hospital profiles section of the Web site at www.nyhealth.gov. The site contains data measuring how often standard recommended treatment was completed in the care of a hospital's patients receiving heart attack care, heart failure care and pneumonia care between April 1, 2004, to March 31, 2005.
While the Web site documents that AMH only sent home 43 percent of heart attack patients with written instructions, it's a standard course for written instructions to be given to patients, McGrath said. Other regional hospitals score low on that number: Cortland Memorial Hospital stacks up at 4 percent, Cayuga Medical Center at Ithaca at 5 percent, Geneva General Hospital at 25 percent and Oswego Hospital at 45 percent.
Advising patients with pneumonia to quit smoking is another front where regional hospitals have lower recorded rates of a medical practice than what they say is the normal procedure.
Cayuga Medical is at 35 percent, Auburn is at 36 percent, Cortland is at 37 percent, Geneva is at 61 percent and Oswego is at 73 percent.
Telling a pneumonia patient to quit is done all the time, McGrath said, but it's not commonly thought to document such obvious medical advice.
To increase the accuracy of the reported figures, the hospital has pushed increased documentation for the last seven or eight months, McGrath said.
“While we are as good as we think we are, that's probably the common human process,” McGrath said. “It will be a change in medical documentation rather than a change in medical care.”
In the matter of the administration of the pneumococcal vaccine given when pneumonia patients are discharged, McGrath said, many physicians refrained from giving their patients the vaccine if patients couldn't remember if they had received it before, but because there are no medical problems with giving it twice, staff are now administering it automatically, McGrath said.
The site includes great information for the public but development is still needed, including feedback from the public and medical professionals, to ensure the site is reliable, according to state Health Department officials.
Low scores are less a reflection of poor care and more a reflection of kinks in reporting, they said.
As the publication of figures on the Web site becomes more routine, the officials expect hospital's reporting rates to increase and their scores to improve.
Additional measures and features will be added to the site over time, including the summary of hospital complaints and citations, different pediatric procedures provided and patient satisfaction surveys.
In numbers that AMH stacks up well with, like cardiac care, the information is easier to retrieve from medical charts and is more commonly recorded, McGrath said.
In general, McGrath said the data does not show the different case histories of patients and doesn't show the outcome of patient care at AMH. It will show if a heart attack patient received aspirin at discharge, but it won't show if a heart attack patient with poor medical conditions thrived after care at the hospital, McGrath said.
“It does measure something that's valuable to look at it, but it doesn't measure everything,” McGrath said.
The public has the right to know the information recorded with the state, but Oswego Hospital officials are “wondering if we're comparing apples and apples,” said Marion Ciciarelli, the public relations manager.
Ciciarelli said different figures may develop if hospitals record or report their information differently to the state, leading to a data picture that does not reflect the quality care at hospitals.
“Our goal is to offer the best care possible,” Ciciarelli said.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
Two mandatory figures reported to the state Department of Health make up that composite score: 68 percent, or 111 of 163, patients had their left ventricular function assessed, which is important because the left side of the heart can be weakened because of heart failure; and 43 percent, or 52 of 122 patients, were sent home with written instructions for their care.
It's not that AMH staff are falling down on the job, said AMH administrator Brendan McGrath and state health department officials Friday. It's that the assessment of left ventricular function and written instructions were completed, but often were not documented.
This lapse in documentation in patient files often happens when medical care is a matter of course and isn't considered special to note, they said.
Those medical reports with unfilled data are included in the information the hospital is required to report to the health department on a quarterly basis, and now, the incomplete reports compose the information listed at the state's new hospital profiles section of the Web site at www.nyhealth.gov. The site contains data measuring how often standard recommended treatment was completed in the care of a hospital's patients receiving heart attack care, heart failure care and pneumonia care between April 1, 2004, to March 31, 2005.
While the Web site documents that AMH only sent home 43 percent of heart attack patients with written instructions, it's a standard course for written instructions to be given to patients, McGrath said. Other regional hospitals score low on that number: Cortland Memorial Hospital stacks up at 4 percent, Cayuga Medical Center at Ithaca at 5 percent, Geneva General Hospital at 25 percent and Oswego Hospital at 45 percent.
Advising patients with pneumonia to quit smoking is another front where regional hospitals have lower recorded rates of a medical practice than what they say is the normal procedure.
Cayuga Medical is at 35 percent, Auburn is at 36 percent, Cortland is at 37 percent, Geneva is at 61 percent and Oswego is at 73 percent.
Telling a pneumonia patient to quit is done all the time, McGrath said, but it's not commonly thought to document such obvious medical advice.
To increase the accuracy of the reported figures, the hospital has pushed increased documentation for the last seven or eight months, McGrath said.
“While we are as good as we think we are, that's probably the common human process,” McGrath said. “It will be a change in medical documentation rather than a change in medical care.”
In the matter of the administration of the pneumococcal vaccine given when pneumonia patients are discharged, McGrath said, many physicians refrained from giving their patients the vaccine if patients couldn't remember if they had received it before, but because there are no medical problems with giving it twice, staff are now administering it automatically, McGrath said.
The site includes great information for the public but development is still needed, including feedback from the public and medical professionals, to ensure the site is reliable, according to state Health Department officials.
Low scores are less a reflection of poor care and more a reflection of kinks in reporting, they said.
As the publication of figures on the Web site becomes more routine, the officials expect hospital's reporting rates to increase and their scores to improve.
Additional measures and features will be added to the site over time, including the summary of hospital complaints and citations, different pediatric procedures provided and patient satisfaction surveys.
In numbers that AMH stacks up well with, like cardiac care, the information is easier to retrieve from medical charts and is more commonly recorded, McGrath said.
In general, McGrath said the data does not show the different case histories of patients and doesn't show the outcome of patient care at AMH. It will show if a heart attack patient received aspirin at discharge, but it won't show if a heart attack patient with poor medical conditions thrived after care at the hospital, McGrath said.
“It does measure something that's valuable to look at it, but it doesn't measure everything,” McGrath said.
The public has the right to know the information recorded with the state, but Oswego Hospital officials are “wondering if we're comparing apples and apples,” said Marion Ciciarelli, the public relations manager.
Ciciarelli said different figures may develop if hospitals record or report their information differently to the state, leading to a data picture that does not reflect the quality care at hospitals.
“Our goal is to offer the best care possible,” Ciciarelli said.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are No comments posted.