A website to find out about how good a hospital is?

[spunky]

I'm looking for somewhere I can find out about how many of certain type of surgery a hospital does (specifically heart bypass surgery) and what the success rates of that hospital are etc.

Basically we aren't too sure about the hospital my uncle is in and I want to find out more.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[serryjw]

1. Try this

http://www.healthgrades.com/consumer/index.cfm?fuseaction=mod&modtype=hospitals&modact=hospitals_search_form_rightdoor&tv_eng=Google&tv_kw=HospitalMisc

It's is as important to find a qualified doctor whom has done many bypasses.

[spunky]

2. Thanks! I've got the list of cardiologists for the hospital

so that will help.

I found a few things online, and it doesn't seem like this hospital deals with too many heart surgeries.

[Pepper32]

3. Here is another resource

Hope it helps.

http://www.hospital-data.com/

[serryjw]

4. My recommendation is

to find the cardiologist that you are happy with and he will work at a hospital that has done many bypasses. The good news is, it's considered a 'easy' surgery

[spunky]

5. yeah, my dad had bypass surgery years ago, but my uncle lives far from

here so we don't know much about doctors or hospitals up there. And he's had complications, he was without oxygen for about 15 minutes, so we want to make sure he's in good hands.

These websites look good.

[serryjw]

6. Best of Luck!

n/t

[Sgent]

7. Best of luck

also remember that a high or low rate of failure may not mean anything -- if they are taking on more complex cases at a referal center, the failure rate will be higher.

Find your surgeon, and generally let him pick the hospital -- insuring that he isn't the only one at the hospital who does that type of surgery.

Also, I would check out infection rates for any major surgery. Some otherwise very good hospitals have very high infection/MRSA rates, which be a bad sign (not of ability, but chances of complications).

[Denver Dave]

8. Also how much do they charge

I've seen news articles that document that in some situations hospitals will charge patients without insurance 10 times the amount that they charge patients with insurance. How do we determine which hospitals, doctors and clinics to go to if we are paying out of pocket?

In a personal family situation, we went to a doctor that gave us a "special rate" because we were paying cash and they did not have to fill out any insurance forms. Somehow things got goofed up and the insurance company was billed anyway. Things worked out payment wise, but we learned that the "special rate" for paying cash was 40% more than the rate charged to the insurance company.

How do we find out doctors, hospitals, clinics that work well with direct pay?

(for discussions of this nature regarding health care funding, please also visit www.HCTalk.com and if you are in Colorado - ColoradoHealth.info)

It is much easier to get better information on what type of toaster to buy than where to go and get medical care.