Patients in California hospitals usually receive needed pain medication, do not experience long waits and are treated with respect and care before surgery, according to an industrywide survey of California hospitals released today.
But the survey also found that many hospitals fail to sufficiently educate patients about medication or resuming day-to-day activities once they go home.
The survey marks a turning point for an industry that has until now resisted such public comparisons. Though it may not be entirely representative of care in California hospitals, the survey is the best overall picture for consumers so far, according to several patient advocates.
Slightly less than a third of hospitals--which house 42% of the licensed beds in the state--responded to the survey, which was conducted by the philanthropic California Healthcare Foundation and the nonprofit California Institute of Health Systems Performance.
"We can't really think of a situation where having no information is better than having some information," said Ann Monroe, a researcher on the survey and director of the California Healthcare Foundation's Quality Initiative. "This is somewhat of an outgrowth of the whole idea of the empowered consumer."
The study is not intended to be a guide to "good" or "bad" hospitals, Monroe said. Participation was voluntary, and hospitals that took part were willing to confront their strengths and weaknesses.
Out of major medical providers in Southern California, 11 Kaiser Permanente hospitals received average or below average overall scores from patients, while City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach received above average marks. Cedars-Sinai and UCLA medical centers were ranked average overall.
Five out of six Los Angeles County Department of Health Services hospitals chose not to participate in the survey, citing lack of resources.
"Because of the surveys we already do [as required by the federal government], we did not put the resources into this one," said John Wallace, spokesman for the L.A. County Department of Health Services. "You would be surprised at a system as large as ours, how much effort that would take."
Hospitals that participated in the survey were required to pay a $1,500 fee per facility.
Several hospitals that did not participate complained that they were unaware of the survey.
