http://www.100tophospitals.com/default.aspx
Two of the local hospitals in the Sacramento area were put on this list. The interesting thing is that in the community (and among those in health care), they really aren't known as the better hospitals. If one looks at other sites, like Hospital Compare, or HMO Report Card, and even the Joint Commission site, the honored hospitals rank below national average. I don't even think most of the hospitals in our area participated in this particular study.
My question is this -- do agencies like Solucient and Press-Ganey just take a large amount of cash from these health systems to make the hospitals 'honorary' so that the hospitals can be used as a marketing tool to attract patients and more business? Is that what these titles all boil down to, or is there some real merit behind this?
Thanks in advance!
-Mark