By Carrie Teegardin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In twenty eight states, hospitals are required by law to make a public report on at least some of the infections patients pick up while under the hospital's care. Georgia is not one of those states, and patient advocates say that makes it difficult for consumers to make informed choices about where to go for health care.
"This should be something the state does for its consumers," said Holly Lang, director of the Hospital Accountability Project at Georgia Watch, a statewide consumer organization.If restaurants must post their inspection scores on their walls, then hospitals should have to disclose rates of potentially deadly infections within their facilities, Lang said. That would help patients choose a hospital, she said, while also pressuring hospitals to improve patient safety.
Legislation to require reporting on infections at hospitals has been proposed in Georgia but not passed, said Pam Keene, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Community Health."I think hospitals felt very defensive about releasing information because they felt it would be bad for their marketing," said state Rep. Pat Gardner, D-Atlanta.But Gardner said that needs to change. "This is the age of consumer directed health care and if we want consumers to take a more active role in their health care, they need access to all kinds of information that is not currently available to them," she said.
Kevin Bloye, spokesman for the Georgia Hospital Association, said the state's hospitals are cautious about public reporting of infection and quality data because hospitals are still working to develop accurate systems for collecting such information that allows for fair comparisons. "More transparency is what the public wants and we're responsive to that," Bloye said. "But the key is making sure what we report is right and fair to each of the stakeholders involved."
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgians-kept-in-dark-975123.html?printArticle=y
No comments:
Post a Comment