224,000 Americans Died From Poor Hospital Care from 2006 – 2008

Comparing the best hospitals in the country to the national average finds that there is a 52% lower risk of dying at the top-rated hospitals¹. When comparing the best to the worst that figure jumps to a 72% lower risk of dying in a top hospital. This discrepancy in care quality has been documented for the past decade and is not improving. We have 74,000 needless deaths a year due to inept care. Maybe health care reform should start in the hospitals.

If we are going to redo healthcare we need to be sure that the quality of care in top hospitals is maintained and that cost-cutting measures to serve more people don’t bring the quality in the whole system down. Rather, an all out effort should be made to bring care quality higher in many hospitals.

These numbers are mind boggling.