Comparative Study of Hospitals

Comparative Study of Hospitals

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Comparative Study of Hospitals

A comparative study of hospitals often becomes necessary to determine the quality of care provided by specific hospitals. Such a study should be considered essential to ascertain the quality of care and the different modes of care that are provided by reputed hospitals in a given area or region. The information obtained from such comparative study helps individuals to decide which hospital to access in times of emergency and which ones to avoid. Moreover, a comparative study of hospitals also becomes essential in terms of understanding the health care standard of a particular state or region or locality. The primary objective in this paper is to conduct a comparative study of three hospitals in New York, NY, and to ascertain the pros and cons of publically available information about the concerned hospitals and about hospitals in general.

The primary hospital selected for comparison and contrast is the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, and the other two hospitals are Beth Israel Medical Center and VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Div. All the concerned hospitals are acute care hospitals and on the third one is an acute care hospital with veterans’ administration. Located at 310 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003, the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary is a hospital providing acute care to the patients. The hospital does not provide any emergency services but it provides patients with the opportunity to access to lab results electronically (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Being particularly a hospital for eye and ear care, the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary is devoid of some emergency patient care features which are present in almost 99% of other hospitals in New York (Medicare.gov, n.d.). For an instance, the hospital does not provide care to surgery patients who are in the need of antibiotic at the right time to help prevent infection (Medicare.gov, n.d.). But in terms of providing preventive care, the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary provide influenza vaccination to 91% patients (Medicare.gov, n.d.). The hospital has also provided 66% healthcare workers with influenza vaccination (Medicare.gov, n.d.). In terms of serious complications, the hospital has been detected with a rate which is similar to that of the national rate, and till date the hospital does not have any record of deaths among patients with serious treatable complications after surgery (Medicare.gov, n.d.). The hospital also does not have any healthcare-associated infection record till date (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Moreover, the hospital does not have any record of patient readmission and death (Medicare.gov, n.d.). But it must also be remembered that the hospital is devoid of some basic patient care amenities like medical imaging, and this must be considered one of the major drawbacks (Medicare.gov, n.d.).

Compared to NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Beth Israel Medical Center, being an acute care hospital, provides emergency services to the patients (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Patients in Beth Israel Medical Center also are provided with the access to lab test results electronically (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Moreover, unlike NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Beth Israel Medical Center, till date, has provided heart attack patients with a procedure for opening blood vessels within 90 minutes of arrival on a cent percent basis (Medicare.gov, n.d.). The hospital has a record of serious patient complications which is similar to that of the national record (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Furthermore, unlike the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Beth Israel Medical Center has a record of deaths among patients with serious treatable complications after surgery and that too is similar to the national record (Medicare.gov, n.d.). It can be interesting to note, in this regard that the death rate for heart attack patients who got admitted in the hospital is better than the national rate (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Moreover, unlike the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the hospital provides medical imaging services like imaging stress tests before the surgery of low-risk outpatients (Medicare.gov, n.d.).

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Division, on the other hand, just like NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, and unlike Beth Israel Medical Center, does not provide any emergency service to the patients (Medicare.gov, n.d.). And just like the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary the hospital does not care heart attack care. But unlike the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Division provides 100% care to pneumonia patients in terms of giving them the most appropriate initial antibiotics (Medicare.gov, n.d.). Also, just like the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the hospital does not provide any emergency department care, and it is also devoid of any preventive care services (Medicare.gov, n.d.). The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Division, just like the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary does not have any record of surgical complications and also, it does not have any record of deaths among patients with serious treatable post-surgery complications (Medicare.gov, n.d.). But again, unlike the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the hospital has a record of heart attack patient, the rate of which is similar to the national rate (Medicare.gov, n.d.). It must be noted that just like the NY Eye and Ear Infirmary, the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Division does not provide any medical imaging services to the patients.

It must be said that the comparative study has revealed some basic patient care information and such information is very much needed to evaluate the quality of care of any given hospital. It must also be noted that healthcare institutions has a responsibility to report such patient care indicators publically. The primary advantage of such public reporting is that, transparency is maintained between healthcare institutions and the populace, and this transparency is the key to success in providing proper patient care. Moreover, public reporting also motivates healthcare institutions to continuously improve on their processes and patient care services so that they do not lag behind in the competition. And this is again beneficial for the patient population. Also, it must be said that apparently there are no cons of such reporting publically because such reporting system is something which is expected from a well-organized healthcare delivery system.

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References

Medicare.gov (n.d.). Beth Israel Medical Center. Complications. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=3&ID=330169&Distn=2.2&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). Beth Israel Medical Center. General information. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=0&ID=330169&Distn=2.2&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). Beth Israel Medical Center. Readmissions & death. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=4&ID=330169&Distn=2.2&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). Beth Israel Medical Center. Timely & effective care. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=2&ID=330169&Distn=2.2&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). Beth Israel Medical Center. Use of medical imaging. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=5&ID=330169&Distn=2.2&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). NY Eye and Ear Infirmary. Complications. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=3&ID=330100&Distn=2.1&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&dist=25&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). NY Eye and Ear Infirmary. General Information. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=0&ID=330100&Distn=2.1&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&dist=25&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). NY Eye and Ear Infirmary. Readmissions & death. Retrieved July 16, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=4&ID=330100&Distn=2.1&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&dist=25&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). NY Eye and Ear Infirmary. Timely & Effective Care. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=2&ID=330100&Distn=2.1&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&dist=25&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). NY Eye and Ear Infirmary. Use of medical imaging. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=5&ID=330100&Distn=2.1&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&dist=25&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Div. General information. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=0&ID=33017F&Distn=2.7&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Div. Complications. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=3&ID=33017F&Distn=2.7&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Div. Readmissions & deaths. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=4&ID=33017F&Distn=2.7&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Div. Timely & effective care. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=2&ID=33017F&Distn=2.7&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0

Medicare.gov (n.d.). VA New York Harbor Healthcare System – NY Div. Use of medical imaging. Retrieved July 16, 2016, from https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/profile.html#profTab=5&ID=33017F&Distn=2.7&cmprID=330100%2C330169%2C33017F&dist=25&lat=40.7143528&lng=-74.0059731&loc=NEW%20YORK%2C%20NY&cmprDist=2.1%2C2.2%2C2.7&cmprTab=0