Nyack Hospital Responds to Consumer Reports Rating

Hospital contends low score does not reflect its true performance

BY BILL DEMAREST

NYACK – Nyack Hospital got a bit of bloody nose last week with a Cosumer Reports story and ratings on hospitals, which hit Nyack with a low score. But hospital officials contend the rating for Nyack Hospital does not reflect its true performance.

Consumer Reports looked at government data on hospital safety, which includes how likely patients are to die of avoidable surgical complications. The magazine’s report shows that hospitals vary on these measures and that patients are at higher risk in some nationally-known facilities than at small hospitals. More than 2,500 hospitals were included in the report.

Consumer Reports gave a Nyack Hospital a safety score of 25, which put it at a tie for ninth worst. But the hospital disagrees with the rating, and Medicare says its rate of surgical complications is about average, along with readmission and death rates for illnesses including pneumonia, heart attack, and heart failure patients.

Nyack Hospital said it does not acknowledge the methodology used by Consumer Reports to develop its “safety score.”

Here’s what Michael Rader, M.D., Vice President & Medical Director of Nyack Hospital had to say about the report:

The score relies on raw data, is not risk-adjusted for the severity of patient illness, and does not reflect the statistical significance of the data reported. The data reported by the federal government on its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ “Hospital Compare” website show that Nyack Hospital’s performance is not different from national averages except in one category.

The hospital acknowledges the reported difference in CT scanning rates, which reflects a data collection and reporting inconsistency, not an underlying deviation in clinical practice. Nyack Hospital has received The Joint Commission’s “Top Performer on Key Quality Measures” award for the last three years – one of only 182 hospitals to do so – and an “A” safety score – the highest available – from The Leapfrog Group.

Republished with permission. Originally published by Nyack Free Press