Autumn Years Spring 2024

Downsizing? Take advantage of the Spring Market!

2021 Top TOCR Team

Deirdre 'DeeDee' Butwin Edward 'Scott' Miller Sales Associates DeeDee: 201 739 4616 (C)

dbutwin @ tocr.com

Scott: 201 960 3240 (C) smiller @ tocr.com 75 W Allendale Ave, Allendale NJ 07401 | (O) 201 825 0500 | www.tocr.com

Avoidable Hospital Visits. No one wants to find themselves back in the hospital unexpectedly after a procedure due to an infection or other prob lem related to the care they received. Information on readmission rates for some procedures can be found on Care Compare. Dr. MacLean adds that signs of quality patient care include responsiveness on the part of doctors and nurses and will ingness to answer questions; an environ ment of cleanliness; and staff members who treat patients with respect. She hopes tools such as Care Compare and the Hospital Reliability Scorecard will lead to greater transparency and improvements in patient care. “When you’re able to reduce complications, lower the infection rate and decrease hospital readmissions, you are lowering costs,” Dr. MacLean notes. “So, you’re not only providing better patient care; you are providing high-value care.”

physician or hospital about the patient reported success rate for the surgery or treatment they are considering. Procedure Volume. It is a good idea to ask the hospital and surgeon how many procedures they perform. Studies have shown that hospitals with a higher surgi cal volume achieve better outcomes. Some hospitals, including HSS, provide this data on their websites. Patient Experience. Feedback from other patients can be useful, and the Care Compare website features a sec tion on “Likelihood to Recommend” and other information based on patient surveys. Complication Rate. Patients admit ted to the hospital sometimes develop serious complications associated with the care they receive. Hospitals can often prevent this by following best practices. The data on complication rates for some procedures is available on the Care Com pare website.

HSS Hospital Reliability Scorecard HSS has launched its own initiative to help consumers protect their health and that of loved ones when choosing a hospital. The HSS Hospital Reliability Scorecard recommends that patients ask important questions to check five “fac tors of reliability.” Success Rate. Dr. MacLean notes that it is critical to know whether patients at a specific hospital see improvement after their treatment. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) assess, from the patient’s perspective, how well they report feeling at various time points after treatment or a surgical procedure. Performance on PROMs is not currently reported on Care Compare, although it will be provided in 2025 for hip and knee replacement. Some hospitals, includ ing HSS, report on their websites how much patients improve after different procedures. Individuals should ask their

SPRING 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS 19