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Testing the U.S. News rankings
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted Oct. 1, 2007
Do the quality metrics of the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of "America's Best Hospitals" truly capture who is doing the best job as opposed to who has the best reputation?
| Mortality group based on rates for heart-attack patients | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mortality group | Ranked hospitals | Nonranked hospitals |
| Lowest quartile ( below25th percentile) | 35 (70%) | 930 (24%) |
| Middle quartile (25th to 75th percentile) | 11 (22%) | 1,922 (50%) |
| Highest quartile (above 75th percentile) | 4 (8%) | 961 (25%) |
Researchers compared mortality rates for heart-attack patients at the 50 hospitals U.S. News ranked as the best in heart care with more than 3,800 nonranked hospitals. The results were mixed. Overall, the U.S. News-ranked hospitals showed a 14.4% average 30-day mortality rate, compared with 18% for the non ranked hospitals. But a closer look finds that while the vast majority of the magazine ranked hospitals placed in the quartile with the lowest mortality rate, 30% of them were middling to poor. Moreover, nearly 1,000 nonranked hospitals also placed in the lowest-mortality-rate quartile.
Note Percentages for non-ranked hospitals do not equal 100% due to rounding
Source: "America's Best Hospitals' in the Treatment of Acute Myocardial Infarction," Archives of Internal Medicine, July 9
