Commonwealth Fund launches hospital ratings site

The non-profit research firm Commonwealth Fund has decided to make its entry into the growing list of competing hospital quality ratings systems. Commonwealth's new site, WhyNotTheBest.org, offers side-by-side comparisons of all 4,500 U.S. hospitals, drawing on data from Medicare's Hospital Compare site and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.

According to Commonwealth executives, the one key difference between its site and competing ones is that most of these sites don't compare hospitals head-to-head. Also, other report card sites don't provide hospitals any resources to help them improve, according to Anne-Marie Audet, a physician and VP of quality improvement and efficiency with the group.

To help hospitals make improvements, the site provides tools from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, along with case studies portraying how high-performing sites operate.

Meanwhile, for consumers, WhyNotTheBest.org offers scores on clinical performance, such as the rate at which pneumonia patients get the right antibiotics, along with patient satisfaction data.

To learn more about the site:
- read this Wall Street Journal Health Blog piece

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