Patients can review federal ratings for Nevada hospitals

Consumers can access free information on how Nevada hospitals rate on patient care for three of the most common medical conditions: heart disease, heart failure and pneumonia. The Web site also has new ratings for surgical infection prevention.

Many health care providers indicated that the Hospital Compare Web site gives patients and families important information that can help them make informed decisions about hospital care.

Carson-Tahoe Hospital was one of three hospitals in the state to be honored for demonstrating high quality health care and excellence in performance on the care measures evaluated by HealthInsight, which is the Medicare quality improvement organization in Nevada.

The hospital moved earlier this month to a new 144-bed medical center on an 80-acre campus in north Carson City.

"Hospital Compare does good work to help people get to know their hospitals," said Cheri Glockner, Carson Tahoe Medical Center spokeswoman. "We've been part of the program for the last year."

All Nevada hospitals volunteered to participate in the initiative, said Bill Welch, president and chief executive officer of the Nevada Hospital Association.

Ed Epperson, the medical center's chief executive officer, said patient care has been enhanced because of quality improvement collaborations with HealthInsight.

The hospital gave 97 percent of its heart attack patients aspirin on their arrival, according to the Web site. Chewing an aspirin as soon as heart attack symptoms begin may help reduce the severity of the attack, according to the United States Department of Health & Human Services.

The hospital also assessed 87 percent of its heart failure patients for Left Ventricular Function. The left ventricular function assessment can tell the health care provider whether the left side of the patient's heart is pumping properly.

No data was available for Carson-Tahoe Hospital on the surgical infection prevention. Glockner said the reason for this is because the data on Carson-Tahoe Hospital is not large enough to compare to all hospitals in Nevada and hospitals nationwide.

The hospital quality information is available at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov, or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.