Memorial Healthcare, Private Hospitals Beat Broward Health In Patient Safety
BY BUDDY NEVINS
I’d love to know what excuse Broward Health has for lagging behind Memorial Healthcare System in the latest Leapfrog Group patient safety ratings.
Both are Broward public hospital systems. Both receive local taxes, state and federal money.
The comparison ends there.
Broward Health North: “C” Rated
Memorial, the system for the southern one-third of the county, has all “A” rated hospitals with one “B” rated to mar its perfect record.
Broward Health, which serves the area roughly north of Griffin Road, is mostly “B” rated except for a “C” rated Broward Health North. Broward Health North’s low rating appears to involve its infection rate.
Maybe the political shenanigans and allegations of inside dealing — problems that have dogged Broward Health’s management and governing board for years — has diverted the system’s attention. Memorial Healthcare, under CEO Frank Sacco, has smoothly sailed to success without such controversies.
Leapfrog, non-profit advocates for better health care delivery, explains their rating of patient care like this:
“A hospital may have the best surgeons and greatest technology in the world, but unless it is preventing infections and eliminating errors, it is not delivering on a very basic premise: ensuring the safety of you and your loved ones. The goal of the Hospital Safety Score is to reduce the approximately 440,000 yearly deaths from hospital errors and injuries by publicly recognizing safety and exposing harm.”
In an era when the best colleges demand “A” grades for admission, a “B” grade from our public hospitals just doesn’t cut it. The difference between “A” rated to “B” rated hospital might just be the different between walking out of the hospital and being carried out…by the undertaker.
The highest patient safety grade is important when it concerns my health or the health of my loved ones and friends. It should be important to you.
Of course, if you really want the best in Broward in additional to Memorial Healthcare you might try three of the “A” rated private hospitals – Cleveland Clinic, Florida Medical Center or University Hospital. They are all in West Broward.
The complete ratings can be found here.
April 30th, 2015 at 3:59 pm
It appears cold to say this, however medical outcomes depend on more than infection rates. A patient has to live through the surgery first. Broward Health provides some of the finest physicians in South Florida. I don’t believe that Florida Medical Center, University or even Cleveland Clinic can touch Broward Health in the quality of the physicians.
April 30th, 2015 at 6:27 pm
Most doctors in Broward have antiquated skills at best. Very high c-section rates, outdated orthopedics procedures and don’t even get me started on cardiology. Without being affiliated with a university as a teaching hospital doctors will not stay ahead of the curve with state of the art medical care. No one should be surprised by this.
April 30th, 2015 at 9:56 pm
Urology Practice, don’t you know that numerous doctors in Broward Health also practice at other hospitals like FMC? This isn’t about the doctors, it’s about the safety in the hospital.
What you show is that you don’t know your hospitals. I believe the 3 best hospitals in Broward Health’s district are FMC, Cleveland Clinic and Holy Cross, depending upon what type of procedure you need. Those are the only 3 I would ever consider, and have been unimpressed with Broward Health’s facilities. Even with them using our taxpayer dollars to advertise.
May 12th, 2015 at 7:00 pm
The LeapFrog Group Rating is as good as the survey completed by the hospital.
Maybe check the integrity/accuracy of the survey by “A” rated hospitals?
May 13th, 2015 at 2:18 pm
My relatives who have wealth live in wealthy neighborhoods n have high survival rates Hospitals that serve lower income less educated areas get funding with waste n corruption because politicians dump their clowns on boards in lower income service areas since the time of the grachii n scipios.