Defying public expectations: Publicly reported hospital scores do not always correlate with clinical outcomes

Background Publicly reported hospital scores are used by patients to make health care–related decisions; however, their relationship to clinical outcomes is unknown. Methods Through the use of the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database, the association between two commonly used scores (Healthgrades and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Compare) and four clinical outcomes was evaluated in several surgical fields (general, colorectal, hepatobiliary, foregut, and bariatric). Results After adjusting for patient-level factors, patients from facilities with greater Healthgrades scores were less likely to develop any complication after general surgery operations ( P  = .0013). Also, greater Healthgrades scores were associated with less 30-day readmissions and emergency department visits for general surgery operations only ( P  = .0061 and P  = .0013, respectively). In addition, greater Healthgrades scores were significantly associated with a lesser hospital length of stay for colorectal, foregut, and general surgery operations. Greater Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Compare scores were significantly associated with less 30-day readmissions and lesser hospital length of stay for specific operative groups. Conclusion Although some specialties demonstrated a correlation, there was no consistent relationship between publicly reported hospital scores and surgical outcomes that contributed to clinically meaningful use for patients or operations.