Healthcare Quality

Not all hospitals and doctors deliver the same quality of care. Preventable adverse events affect about 1 in 10 hospital patients. About 687,000 hospital-acquired infections occur annually, contributing to roughly 72,000 deaths. And only half of patients research a doctor's credentials before their first visit.

This section gives you the tools to evaluate healthcare quality before you need care, not after. Rating systems, credential verification, second opinions, and questions that protect you. Data comes from CMS Care Compare, Leapfrog, AHRQ, and the FDA.

Hospital Ratings

Two major systems rate American hospitals. CMS assigns 1 to 5 stars to over 3,200 hospitals using 46 quality measures across mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timely care. Leapfrog assigns letter grades (A through F) focused specifically on patient safety, twice a year. The two systems can disagree on the same hospital because they measure different things. We explain how to read both and what to look for before a planned procedure.

Checking Doctor Credentials

Board certification, licensing status, and disciplinary history are all publicly available for free. The ABMS verifies board certification at certificationmatters.org. The FSMB checks licensing and disciplinary actions at docinfo.org. CMS Care Compare shows quality data on 1.2 million Medicare providers. Checking takes five minutes and can save you from a bad outcome.

Second Opinions and Informed Decisions

A Mayo Clinic study found that 88% of second opinions changed or refined the original diagnosis. Medicare covers second surgical opinions. We cover when to get one, how to request your records, what questions to ask before surgery, and how to participate in clinical trials (over 500,000 are registered on ClinicalTrials.gov). We also cover health literacy, because understanding medical information is the foundation of every good healthcare decision.