As I wrote about in a previous blog, reporters and the public are increasingly seeing comparisons in the quality of health care offered at different hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices. One of the most-watched is the federal government’s comparison of hospitals, done by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, called HospitalCompare. It compares things like the percent of patients with a heart attack given aspirin on arrival, to the percent of pneumonia patients given smoking cessation advice before discharge. It uses huge database of Medicare patients who visited the hospitals.

Central Washington Hospital has always rated high in most categories, compared with other hospitals in Washington state, and nationwide, and we’ve reported these comparisons in previous articles. Other, smaller hospitals in our region are not rated bec
Most recently, HospitalCompare added a new category, showing patient survey responses to ten questions, like whether nurses and doctors communicated well, and whether their rooms were clean and quiet. A story in yesterday’s Olympian talks about the survey in relation to how patients rated hospitals in southern Puget Sound.

I would also do a story about the patient surveys, but in this category, Central Washington Hospital is not yet rated. I called the hospital to find out why, and it’s because they don’t have a full year’s worth of data, yet. The hospital expects to have that by December. So, readers, watch for that story early next year, and if you happen to require a hospital stay, don’t forget to fill out the survey!