Many New York hospitals were found at the bottom of Consumer Reports’ first-ever list of the best and worst medical facilities in the United States. The ratings reviewed information on 1,159 hospitals in 44 states and scored them on a scale of 1-100, with one being the worst and 100 being the most safe. Consumer Reports was inspired to rank U.S. medical facilities after a 2010 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report was released. That report indicated medical malpractice including, surgical errors, infections and medication errors, contributed to the deaths of 180,000 Medicare patients and likely a substantial amount of non-Medicare patients too. While not all New York Hospitals were ranked; out of the 117 that were, only 31 received a score of 50 or above. Harlem Hospital Center in New York and Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn were both ranked in the bottom 10. Another New York hospital that had a “less than outstanding score" included the prominent Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. In determining a hospital’s safety rating, the organization considered 6 major factors:

• The number of reported infections
• Patient communication about medication, discharge and other safety issues
• Patient readmission rates
• Over-use of computerized scanning (CT scans) that expose patients to radiation
• The number of reported hospital complications and adverse events following surgeries and other medical procedures
• The number of reported fatalities

Chicago’s Sacred Heart Hospital scored the lowest rating 16, while Billings Clinic in Montana was ranked the safest hospital in the U.S with a score of 72. The bleak results for New York indicate that New York hospitals have a lot of work to do to increase patient safety and prevent injuries and fatalities. Source: Red Orbit, Hospital Safety Ratings Released By Consumer Reports, July 8, 2012.