Over the course of the last several years, healthcare in the United States has begun to evolve. The Affordable Care Act, for example, has made it possible for millions of people to afford health insurance, while a growing number of urgent care centers began drawing as many as 160 million visits a year from patients seeking care for non-life-threatening conditions. Now, a website in Maryland is making it easier for patients to find information about local hospitals, forcing medical institutions and professionals to improve.
A state website run by the Maryland Health Care Commission and overseen by the state health department, the Maryland Health Care Quality Reports site provides users with information on everything from a hospital’s infection rates to bathroom cleanliness. While the state has long kept track of a variety of hospital statistics, this data has rarely available to the public. By publishing it online, patients will now have access to information on the number of C-sections a hospital performs, the number of deaths after surgeries, and more. This will equip them to make better choices about their care. Likewise, it is hoped that hospitals will be motivated to make changes, to protect their reputation and therefore their business.
Already, the website has revealed that many of Maryland’s hospitals have received below-average grades in many areas. For example, the site reports that wait times for emergency room services in Maryland hospitals were longer than the national average, with most patients waiting 357 minutes to be seen instead of 274 minutes for a national hospital. Most of the state’s hospitals also fall below national averages for overall quality of care. However, Maryland’s Hospital Association has stated that it fully supports the website’s transparency. Beginning next year, the website plans to expand this transparency by adding information on doctor services, pricing and other factors.