Passaic County Hospitals Called Below Average
Posted on: Thursday, 6 April 2006, 18:00 CDT
By Jessica Adler, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
Apr. 6--Passaic County hospitals ranked below average in preventing certain serious medical complications, according to a study released this week by HealthGrades, a for-profit Colorado-based company that studies health care quality.
Overall, New Jersey hospitals ranked worst in the nation for preventing patient safety problems -- including bedsores and post-operative blood clots, hip fractures, respiratory failure and infections -- according to the study.
The report used safety measures developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and analyzed data from 40 million Medicare patient hospitalizations nationwide from 2002 through 2004.
Area hospital officials voiced skepticism about the findings, doubts that were echoed at the state level.
"I don't know how they reach these findings, but I can tell you that it does not reflect the high quality of patient care the new Barnert Hospital provides, which we believe is on par with any community hospital in the state," said Joseph S. Orlando, president/CEO of Barnert Hospital, in a statement.
Of the 13 safety indicators, Barnert Hospital was ranked worse than average on seven, the most of any Passaic County hospital. Those indicators included timely diagnosis and treatment, prevention of infection, and prevention of surgical-wound site breakdown. In total, 407 of every 1,000 patients were affected by safety shortfalls at Barnert between 2002 and 2004, according to HealthGrades.
St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph's Wayne and Passaic Beth Israel Regional Medical Center all received five below-average ratings; St. Mary's received two. No Passaic County hospital received more than three above-average safety rankings.
"In the past few years, since this data has been available and now published, hospitals, including St. Joe's, have worked so hard to improve quality of patient care," said Maria Brennan, vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer for St. Joseph's Health Care System.
Since 2004, Brennan said, St. Joseph's has aimed to decrease patient infections, bedsores and respiratory failure, some of the problem areas cited by HealthGrades. "I'm confident that when the next round of data comes out for all the indicators, New Jersey is going to rank much, much better," she said.
In 2004, the New Jersey Patient Safety Act was signed into law. It was intended to establish a medical reporting system to improve patient safety in hospitals and other health care facilities.
"There are a lot of activities in place to improve the quality of care at New Jersey hospitals, from ongoing staff education and training to sharing best practices," said Ron Czajkowski, spokesman for the New Jersey Hospital Association. He added, "There are numerous agencies, consumer groups, organizations and accrediting agencies trying to evaluate hospital performance (and) attempting to define quality, but the reality is that there's no single measuring stick of hospital performance."
Nationwide, between 2002 and 2004, patient safety incidents such as those cited in the HealthGrades report increased from 1.18 million to 1.24 million, leading to more than 250,000 potentially preventable deaths. In Passaic County, HealthGrades found that 21 patients died in procedures where mortality is usually very low.
New York, Nevada, Tennessee, California and Maryland joined the Garden State in the report's "Performed Worse Than Expected" category. Hospitals in Minnesota ranked first in safety, followed by those in Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan.
"I'm very suspicious of a method that puts us, New York, California and Maryland, arguably some of the most sophisticated medical centers in the country... in the lowest group," said State Health Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs. "I'm not saying we're the best in the country but we're sure as heck not worst either."
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Source: The Record - Hackensack, New Jersey
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