Healthgrades communicates performance in two ways—through ratings and awards—to assist consumers in evaluating and comparing hospital performance specific to specialist service lines and speciality emphasis areas. Using Medicare inpatient data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) file purchased from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the years 2019 through 2021, hospitals were evaluated for overall clinical excellence and measure performance. Data on patient outcomes for 31 diseases or treatments were examined for almost all hospitals in the nation.
Also, with the fewest occurrences of 14 avoidable patient safety events, hospitals in the top 10% of the country are honored with the Patient Safety Excellence Award, and analyzing data from surveys of the hospital’s own patients to evaluate patient experience across 10 metrics, the top 15% of hospitals receive the Outstanding Patient Experience Award.
Finally, each year, Healthgrades recognizes hospitals in the United States that offer the most common gynecologic treatments and where patients are at a decreased risk of complications during their stay for labor and delivery.