Garrett Memorial Hospital discharges satisfied customers

Kristin Harty Barkley
Cumberland Times-News

— CUMBERLAND — Garrett County Memorial Hospital outperformed most hospitals in Maryland last year, including the two former branches of Western Maryland Regional Medical Center — at least according to patients.

In a survey of discharged patients, 74 percent said they would recommend Garrett Memorial to family and friends, compared to 60 percent for Cumberland Memorial and 67 percent for Braddock.

Statewide, about 64 percent of pa-tients surveyed said they would recommend a Maryland hospital.

The Hospital Guide data, published last week by the Maryland Health Care Commission, includes information on how each Maryland hospital performed in 14 areas of care, including treatment of patients with heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. It also rates how well hospitals manage surgical care, including prevention of infections and blood clots.

Collected during calendar year 2009, the surveys were completed by about 41,000 patients discharged from Maryland’s 46 acute care hospitals.

Western Maryland Health System opened its new hospital in mid-November 2009, closing the Memorial and Braddock campuses.

On the surveys, patients were asked 27 questions about their recent hospital stay, including questions about how clean and quiet the hospital was and how well doctors, nurses, and staff communicated with them.

At Garrett, 76 percent of patients said the hospital was clean, compared to 70 percent at Memorial and 66 percent at Braddock. Statewide, 63 percent of respondents gave a favorable response for cleanliness.

In communication, too, Garrett ranked well above the state averages — and above scores for Johns Hopkins University Hospital, which was the No. 1 most recommended hospital.

For example, 87 percent of patients at Garrett said doctors communicated well with them, compared to 79 percent at Memorial and 78 percent at Braddock. At Johns Hopkins, 81 percent of patients gave doctors a favorable communication score, and statewide, it was 78 percent.

Braddock and Memorial both scored at or above the state average in most categories, though their overall favorable ratings of 60 and 56 percent were below the state average of 61 percent. Garrett’s overall rating was 73 percent.

Maryland was one of three states to participate in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey, a standardized national survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care.

The data, available at http://mhcc.maryland.gov/consumerinfo/hospitalguide/index.htms, is a tool for the public to compare quality measures at the state’s hospitals, said Marilyn Moon, chair of the Maryland Health Care Commission.

“Publicly reporting timely and important information about quality will assist consumers in making informed choices about their health care and provide hospitals with performance benchmarks that can assist in their quality improvement activities,” Moon said.

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