Hospital Rankings Visualized

September 23, 2007

Naoum Issa at Medical Resource Group showed me a neat little tool at NetDoc which is basically a mashup of Google Maps and HHS hospital database. It uses publicly available data from the Department of Health and Human Services, and displays a summary of the information on a GoogleMap. Although the information shouldn’t be see as canonical, it’s a quick and easy way to access hospital quality data by locale, and the ability to drill down for more detail if necessary.

I love tools like this which basically take mountains (or even molehills) of data already available and make them more accessible to the public.

Thanks for pointing it out, Naoum.

Here’s how hospitals in my area fare.

  • The PACS Designer

    Patient empowerment is a trend that is gaining momentum in healthcare as we near the end of this decade. With the ever increasing amount of digital information available on the Internet it is only a matter of time before we have real valuable tools for the patient to pick the best provider for their healthcare needs. Pay for performance will reach a new higher quality level because of this healthcare revolution!

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  • Anthony

    Cool little tool.

    Though, I have to comment on the HHS rankings….living in Los Angeles (I searched area code 90250), we have some of the best and worst hospitals and HHS does not accurately reflect patient care.

    For example, Centinela Inglewood…I’m sure the fact they have a cath lab improves their rating…but they are over worked and you have higher chances of dying in triage or on the EMT’s gurney waiting for a bed than if you took a taxi to a nearby hospital.

    Then hospitals that are so bad they are shut down have better rankings than ones we consider one of the best….comparing Torrance Memorial to MLK/Drew Med Center. Even if I were vomiting blood, I would call a taxi to Torrance Memorial over MLK/Drew…as they have had people die while vomiting blood in the lobby

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