When a patient learns they have a serious illness, their first thoughts often turn to finding the best hospital to treat them. In reality, for most illnesses, a great hospital isn’t necessarily somewhere far away but rather a good one near home. In addition to offering excellent medical care, hospitals are also important training sites for new doctors and nurses. And they carry out medical research to help advance health care. In fact, some people choose a particular hospital because of its reputation as a teaching institution or for its expertise in a specific area such as heart surgery.
In the United States, there are more than 5,000 hospitals ranging from general community hospitals to teaching hospitals, federal hospitals for military veterans and children, mental health hospitals and long-term rehabilitative facilities. Many of these are private, but others are run by government agencies or organizations such as the Catholic Church.
While there are pros and cons to every hospital, most of them provide around-the-clock medical care and treatment for patients. This includes monitoring, testing and prescribing medication. Some hospitals may be able to perform procedures on site, while others have to refer patients to nearby clinics or other hospitals for more intensive care.
One way to compare hospitals is by looking at their rating systems. For example, the Leap Frog Group rates hospitals nationally on measures including hospital safety, efficiency and responsiveness and patient experience. The ratings are based on publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the CDC as well as information from hospital surveys.
The length of time a patient spends in the hospital, known as average length of stay (ALOS), is another important measure. This is particularly true for hospitals that treat patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. However, it is worth noting that ALOS can vary greatly within a single hospital, depending on the acuity of patients and their comorbidities.
Other factors to consider when choosing a hospital include its location and whether or not it is part of a larger medical system. This is especially important for people with complex medical needs who require the coordinated care of multiple specialists. It is also helpful to look at the hospital’s patient satisfaction ratings, as well as any other information that might be available.
Most of the world’s hospitals are privately owned, although in some countries the operating costs are supported by public revenues or social insurance funds. This type of system is referred to as collectivized, and it differs from the more privatized approach taken in the United States. In many European countries, for example, hospitals are mostly publicly owned but receive a portion of their operational funding from private insurers. This arrangement tends to encourage competition among hospitals and drives innovation. In addition, it helps keep prices low for the majority of the population who is covered by health insurance.