Your Health Care Experience
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Choosing a Hospital
Hospitals have varying levels of experience, services and training. Put simply, hospitals differ in quality. Here are some factors to consider when you choose a hospital:
Accreditations
When a health care organization is accredited, you can be assured they have met (or exceeded) the standards and measures considered to be most important by the accrediting organization. Some accreditations are for overall quality, while others address quality in specific care areas.
A common hospital accreditation review is the Joint Commission. This organization reviews the hospital's staff, equipment and experience with various treatments and procedures. It then generates a performance report that is available to consumers. Hospitals are also accredited in various care areas and specialties.
Range of Care
Many hospitals perform a wide range of general care for individuals and families. Others focus on a particular patient type (such as veterans or children) or specialty area (such as cancer or heart disease). And others – including MeritCare – offer both types of care.
Doctor/Hospital Privileges
Not all clinics and hospitals are connected. At MeritCare, we have an integrated health care system. This means it's a smooth transition from the care of your primary doctor at a clinic to the hospital because all MeritCare clinic and hospital doctors exclusively serve MeritCare patients. When your doctor has privileges with a hospital like the system at MeritCare, you can be assured of care levels and services that may not be available to all patients.
Health Plan Coverage
Health plan coverage is a consideration in most care decisions, and hospital selection is no different. Always understand what your plan will and will not cover. Ask questions until you fully understand the details. If your health plan does not cover the hospital care, consider whether you have another way to pay for the services.
Experience, Success and Innovations
Whether you're seeking broad primary care or facing a complex procedure, you want assurance that the provider routinely provides the care and is prepared for any possible complications.
Indicators of services and experience include:
- Whether the provider has specialists in a care area
- The number of similar procedures the provider has performed in the past year
- Accreditations earned by associates
- The provider's success rates with the procedure
- Innovative approaches and techniques the provider may offer
Quality
Many organizations are continually reviewing various aspects of health care. Consumers have access to many of these quality reports, including many published on the Internet. "Report cards" help you review a health care organization's overall performance and assess their success in specific care areas. Review Why Quality Matters to learn more.