There is a wide disparity in the quality of health care at hospitals and medical providers across Illinois. Statistics show that medical negligence injury or death occurs more frequently at certain hospitals. Illinois residents should feel confident in the hospitals they rely on to treat them and their families. Now, they can research the quality of health care provided in Illinois hospitals.
This month, the Illinois Department of Public Health finally launched the Illinois Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide to Health Care website. The website is the culmination of the Illinois Hospital Report Card Act (Public Act 93-0563), which was passed in 2004. As a previous post mentioned, the goal of the Act is to give the public “information about the quality of health care provided in Illinois hospitals” so residents can make more informed health care choices.
The site allows a user to search hospitals first by region, and then by county. A user can then select just one hospital, or multiple hospitals for comparison. Overview information provides the hospital license number, contact information, and the state designation such as a Level I or Level II Trauma Center.
There are numerous data points that can be used for comparison, or simply reviewed for an individual hospital. Such data points include:
• Quality (Inpatient and Process of Care)
• Safety (Surgical Care Improvement, Healthcare-Related Infections and Patient Safety)
• Patient Satisfaction
• Services (Number of Patients, Average Length of Stay and Cost)
• Staffing
• Number of beds devoted to a category of service such as surgical, pediatric or intensive care.
Illinois residents can now look up and compare hospitals in their hometowns, and across the state to see how their own hospitals match up. They can compare information relevant to medical or hospital malpractice, including inpatient mortality, how often surgical patients are given correct antibiotics, hospital infections, unexpected death, patient satisfaction, cost of services and many other factors previously unavailable.
Patient satisfaction and other data shows that much improvement can be made. Now that the information has been made public, hopefully hospitals around the state will take action to improve their quality of health care.
Being injured while under the care of a medical professional can leave permanent damage that may require life-long care. It is important to contact an experienced personal injury attorney to help you determine whether or not the injury was a result of negligence. Call Passen & Powell at (312) 527-4500 for a Free Consultation.
