Study Ranks Hospital Care Regions

July 24, 2005 — -- A study of data on hospital care found that the quality of care varies significantly by region and medical condition.

Officials with the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System studied 10 "quality indicators" and other factors in the data from 3,558 hospitals gathered by the Hospital Quality Alliance. The study then ranked care cumulatively for hospitals in 40 different regions for three conditions -- acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks), congestive heart failure and pneumonia.

The quality indicators were defined by the Harvard School of Public Health as "tests or treatments that have been shown to reduce death or improve health."

Several hospitals and regions that ranked highly in one category were not strong in others.

Detailed results of the study appear in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The top and bottom of the regional rankings can be seen in the table that follows.