Consumers Use Rankings, But Experts Disagree on "Best Hospitals"

According to the USA Today, nearly 40% of consumers surveyed last year said they use hospital ratings to choose a health care facility, but there's little agreement among the lists, raising questions about their value. Consumers pore over reviews and ratings of everything from cars to washing machines, but it's doctor and hospital rankings that may be the most confusing and controversial. At least 15 different groups, ranging from news publications such as U.S. News & World Report to the federal government through its "Compare" websites, rank health care organizations, but no two judge them the same way, which leads to widely divergent results.

A survey of consumers' views on hospitals conducted last year by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health, found Americans evenly split on whether they think there are big or small differences in the quality of care among their local hospitals. And while 38% said they rely on rankings to choose a hospital, 57% said they'd more likely go to a hospital they were familiar with than they would go to one because it had a high ranking.

Some rankings focus more in a particular area, such as patient safety, and other ranking organizations think that is too narrow a focus and try to capture a broader set of information. One thing that all sides seem to agree on is that there is a larger benefit to society if hospitals work to improve their rankings on the myriad lists.