Healthgrades Releases Health Index and 2018 Hospital Report

Consumers have many choices for health care in the Denver area, yet the process to access the right care may be fractured and complicated to understand. To help consumers navigate their health-care journey with confidence, Denver-based Healthgrades, an online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals, recently released two new resources – an inaugural National Health Index and a 2018 report that analyzes top quality hospitals nationally.

The Healthgrades National Health Index is an analysis of cities leading the way in American health and care. The Index can help educate and empower consumers as they make care choices in Colorado, offering a local snapshot to inform consumers about key health factors in their community.  

Minneapolis, Denver, Sacramento, Cincinnati and Portland top this year’s list. Residents of these cities reported higher rates of healthy activity, had high access to health-care, physicians and quality hospitals, and engaged less frequently in risky health behavior. The National Health Index revealed that Denver residents were the healthiest of all cities on the list and maintain high access to quality hospitals.

The Healthgrades 2018 Report to the Nation

Many consumers believe that hospital quality is standardized, though the reality is that clinical quality and outcomes at hospitals vary widely across the country.

Healthgrades recently released its 2018 analysis of top quality hospitals nationally in its Report to the Nation. The Report was compiled after evaluating the performance of nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing performance relative to each of 34 common conditions and procedures.

The analysis offers insight on variation in clinical quality and outcomes across the country and found that:

• Patients treated at hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have a lower risk of dying and a lower risk of experiencing one or more complications during a hospital stay than if they were treated at hospitals receiving a 1-star rating in that procedure or condition. From 2014-2016, if all hospitals as a group performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average 219,568 lives could potentially have been saved and 164,454 complications could potentially have been avoided.
• Patients' have varying relative risk for complications and mortality with common surgeries. The choice of hospital however can have a significant impact on this risk. Patients having surgery in hospitals rated 5-stars will have a lower risk of experiencing a complication or dying than if they were treated in a hospital rated as 1-star for that same procedure.
• Hospitals within close proximity from each other can have significant differences in complication and mortality rates for the same condition or procedure. 

Together, the National Health Index and the 2018 Report to the Nation give consumers trusted information to make health-care decisions and help navigate their care journey with confidence.

Learn more about the National Health Index: https://www.healthgrades.com/quality/health-index/

Read Healthgrades analysis on hospital variation in clinical quality and outcomes.