In states like Texas, hospital quality of care information is cloaked in secrecy behind legal privileges. Credentialing, peer review, and hospital committee privileges shield hospitals from having to divulge information showing patterns of dangerous care and bad outcomes, even in litigation.
Sometimes the only way that dangerous health care is exposed is when a particular hospital or physician is named as a defendant in a series of lawsuits around the same time. The overall hush-hush nature of health care safety information makes it hard for patients to make an informed decision about which hospital to use.
That’s why I’m so enthusiastic about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services program to assign star rankings to hospitals nationwide, which kicked off in 2016.
Make no mistake, most hospital owners, leaders, and administrators don’t like the publicity that the rankings bring, because they provide such a rare glimpse into the internal workings of the healthcare industry. On top of that, though, they don’t appreciate the accountability. The lowest performing hospitals nationwide are hit with reductions in their Medicare reimbursement rates.
The 2021 rankings by this federal government agency were just announced. Hospitals received a 1-star to 5-star rating—with 5-stars being the best possible rating—based on 48 different quality of care measures, including: mortality (patient death rate), safety of care, readmission rates (when a patient is discharged from the hospital the best return within short time), patient experience, and timely and effective care.
Nationwide, only 6% of hospitals were assigned a 1-star rating, with only four Texas hospitals receiving that undistinguished rating. In the Houston area, only one hospital made the list: HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe.
HCA now owns the hospital which used to be called Conroe Regional Medical Center. Here at Painter Law Firm, we are very familiar with the quality of care concerns at HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, which is located at 504 Medical Center Boulevard, in Conroe, Montgomery County, Texas. We’ve handled a number of cases against this hospital and are currently investigating active claims for our clients.
If you’ve been seriously injured because of poor health care at HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, then contact a top rated experienced Houston, Texas medical malpractice lawyer for a free evaluation of your potential case.
