Queens hospitals are well below the national average in patient safety according to a recent Consumer Reports investigation.
The report from the consumer advocacy group rated New York City-area hospitals in four measures of patient safety and found only five — none in Queens — above the national average.
The highest rated hospital in the borough, New York Hospital Queens, came in 43 percent below the national average.
“New York Hospital Queens is strongly committed to providing our patients high quality medical care outcomes and to constantly improving the hospital experience for patients and their families,” said Stephen S. Mills, the hospital’s president, adding there is a constant need for staff education and training regarding patient safety.
The safety measures rated were hospital infections, readmissions, discharge instructions and medication instructions.
“New Yorkers often assume that they have access to some of the best health care in the world,” said John Santa, M.D., director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. “And in some ways they do, with many leading physicians and state-of-the-art facilities in the area. But our analysis suggests that, when it comes to patient safety, New Yorkers often receive sub-standard care.”
More than 1,000 hospitals were rated nationwide. Thirty hospitals in the New York City-area were in the bottom five percent, according to the survey.
The other Queens hospital measured were:
– St. John’s Episcopal Hospital-South Shore was 48 percent below the national average.
– Flushing Hospital Medical Center was 52 percent below the national average.
– Jamaica Hospital Medical Center was 57 percent below the national average.
– Forest Hills Hospital was 62 percent below the national average.
Forest Hills Hospital ranked third lowest in the greater New York area and all five Queens hospitals rated fell in the bottom third.
“Whenever information contained in the various ‘hospital report cards’ identifies a quality issue, we are already aware of it and working aggressively to resolve it,” Forest Hills Hospital said in a statement.
This is done routinely to provide the best patient experience possible, hospital officials said, adding it has experienced significant improvement in all quality metrics and they are confident this will be “reflected in the results of the next reporting period.”
Four borough hospitals — Elmhurst Hospital Center, Peninsula Hospital Center, Queens Hospital Center and the Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens — were not rated due to a lack of data.
