Consumer Reports has expanded its hospital ratings to include data on Clostridium difficile and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections and has found that some hospitals significantly outperform their peers when it comes to preventing these —and other — deadly healthcare-associated infections.
The magazine based its ratings off of data hospitals submitted to the CDC between October 2013 and September 2014. According to Consumer Reports, 105 hospitals received the highest possible rating for MRSA and C. diff, meaning they reported either zero infections or "did much better than predicted compared with similar hospitals on both types of infections."
However, nine hospitals received higher ratings in preventing MRSA and C. diff as well as other infections included in the magazine's ratings: surgical site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and central line-associated bloodstream infections.
The nine highest rated hospitals in infection prevention are listed below, in order of patient volume:
- Northwest Texas Healthcare System (Amarillo)
- Jupiter (Fla.) Medical Center
- White County Medical Center (Searcy, Ark.)
- Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center (Las Vegas)
- Biloxi (Miss.) Regional Medical Center
- Johnston Memorial Hospital (Abingdon, Va.)
- Lima (Ohio) Memorial Health System
- Western Arizona Regional Medical Center (Bullhead City)
- South Baldwin Regional Medical Center (Foley, Ala.)
While those nine were shining stars when it comes to infection prevention, some hospitals performed much worse on preventing MRSA, C. diff, SSIs, CAUTIs and CLABSIs. The following 12 hospitals, listed alphabetically, are the lowest-rated in infection prevention, according to Consumer Reports:
- Brooklyn (N.Y.) Hospital Center
- Decatur (Ill.) Memorial Hospital
- Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services (New Albany, Ind.)
- Fremont-Rideout Health Group (Marysville, Calif.)
- Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers (Evergreen Park, Ill.)
- Mercy St. Anne Hospital (Toledo, Ohio)
- Riverview Medical Center (Red Bank, N.J.)
- Rockdale Medical Center (Conyers, Ga.)
- St. Petersburg (Fla.) General Hospital
- The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital (Torrington, Conn.)
- UF Health Jacksonville (Fla.)
- Venice (Fla.) Regional Bayfront Health
View the full report from Consumer Reports here.
Correction: This article has been updated to list the location of White County Medical Center as Searcy, Ark. A previous version of the article listed the location as in Searcy, Ariz.