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Choosing Care
- Agency Health Care Research Quality Consumer Information
- U.S. agency that specializes in patient safety and quality of health care. This web page provides informative articles on choosing quality care and links to websites that evaluate hospitals and nursing homes.
- American Board of Medical Specialties
- Search for physicians that are certified in a subspecialty. Board certified specialists participate in ongoing continuing education to stay current with advances in medical science and technology as well as best practices in patient safety and quality healthcare.
- DocFinder -Administrators in Medicine
- Links to state websites that regulate physician licensing and include information on licensing background and any disciplinary actions.
- HealthGrades
- Private company that provides healthcare ratings for physicians, hospitals and nursing homes. Some content is free but more indepth information requires payment.
- How to Find a Doctor or Treatment Facility If You Have Cancer
- Factsheet from the National Cancer Institute with helpful information for patients needing to choose a cancer specialist and/or treatment facility.
- Physician Compare
- Physician Compare helps you find and compare physicians and other clinicians enrolled in Medicare so that you can make informed choices about your health care.
- ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard
- Guided by experts, ProPublica calculated death and complication rates for surgeons performing one of eight elective procedures in Medicare, carefully adjusting for differences in patient health, age and hospital quality. Use this database to know more about a surgeon before your operation.
- SurgeonRatings.org - by Consumers' Checkbook
- Results are based on analyses of more than five million surgeries done in hospitals by more than 50,000 surgeons and shows which surgeons' patients had higher complication rates, length of stay and readmittance rates.
Hospital Ratings and Cost Comparisons
- Healthgrades.com
- Private company that provides healthcare ratings for physicians, hospitals and nursing homes. Some content is free but more indepth information requires payment.
- Hospital Compare
- Tool created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and others to find information on how well hospitals treat patients for certain types of medical conditions and surgeries.
- The Leapfrog Group
- Leapfrog Group is a organization of large employers looking to maximize their health care dollars. They are focused on collecting data about hospitals providing high quality care through a voluntary survey submitted to hospitals.
- Quality Check - Joint Commission
- An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Patients can use Quality Check to determine whether a specific facility has been accredited by the Joint Commission and to view the organization’s performance reports.
- U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals
- Yearly ranking of over 5,000 hospitals in 16 adult specialties and 10 pediatric specialties.
