Also called: Also called: Health care facilities
Health facilities are places that provide health care. They include hospitals, clinics, outpatient care centers and specialized care centers, such as birthing centers and psychiatric care centers.
When you choose a health facility, you might want to consider
- How close it is
- Whether your health insurance will pay for services there
- Whether your health care provider can treat you there
- The quality of the facility
Quality is important. Some facilities do a better job than others. One way to learn about the quality of a facility is to look at report cards developed by state and consumer groups.
- Find a Hospital(American Hospital Association) - Information on over 6,000 hospitals in the United States, including driving directions - http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
- Helping You Choose the Hospital for You(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Choices/hc_hap.htm
- Hospital Hints(National Institute on Aging) - http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/hospital.asp
- Your Guide to Choosing Quality Health Care(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) - Large PDF file - http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qualguid.pdf
- Hospital Fixes Cut Opiate Errors in Kids(10/06/2008, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_70102.html
- National Scorecard Ranks Palliative Care across Country(10/02/2008, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_69989.html
- Retail Clinics Attracting Those without Regular Doctors(09/10/2008, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_69132.html
- More News on Health Facilities http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alphanews_h.html#healthfacilities
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Birthing Centers and Hospital Maternity Services(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/doctor/birth_centers_hospitals.html
Also available in Spanish http://kidshealth.org/parent/en_espanol/embarazo/birth_centers_hospitals_esp.html
- Helping You Choose Quality Ambulatory Care(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Choices/hc_amb.htm
- Helping You Choose Quality Behavioral Health Care(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Choices/hc_bhc.htm
- Helping You Identify Quality Laboratory Services(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Choices/hc_lab.htm
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JAMA Patient Page: Academic Health Centers(American Medical Association) - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/292/9/1134.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/data/292/9/1134/DC1/1
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JAMA Patient Page: Intensive Care Units(American Medical Association) - Links to PDF - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/287/24/3326.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/data/287/24/3326/DC1/1
- Selecting a Transplant Hospital(United Network for Organ Sharing) - http://www.transplantliving.org/beforethetransplant/hospital/hospital.aspx
- How Are Our Hospitals Measuring Up?(American Heart Association) - http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/118/13/e498
- JAMA Patient Page: On Call(American Medical Association) - Links to PDF - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/300/10/1262.pdf
- Planning for Your Discharge(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) - Links to PDF - http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11376.pdf
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Report a Complaint about a Health Care Organization(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/
Also available in Spanish http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Complaint/sp_complaint.htm
- Who's Who in the Hospital(InteliHealth, Harvard Medical School) - http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9273/35328/387281.html?d=dmtHMSContent
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Health Facilities(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Health+Facilities%22
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Hospitals(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/condition=%22Hospitals%22
- Value-Based Healthcare Efficiency Measures Lead to Better Patient Outcomes(American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association) - http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=534
References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Veterans' health system blazing trails. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18779523&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Comparing clinical and administrative data for profiling hospitals on postdischarge... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18760146&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Ranking hospitals on surgical quality: does risk-adjustment always matter? - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18722939&tool=MedlinePlus
- Health Facilities -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=hospitals[majr]+AND+quality+of+health+care[majr]+OR+hospitals/trends[majr]+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+AND+(patient+education+handout[pt]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+jsubsetk[text]+OR+jsubsetaim[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text]+OR+systematic[sb]+OR+review[pt])+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus
- Children's Hospitals Directory(National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions) - http://www.childrenshospitals.net/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Member_Hospital_Directory1&Template=/CustomSource/HospitalProfiles/HospitalProfileSearch.cfm
- Find a Hospital(American Hospital Association) - Information on over 6,000 hospitals in the United States, including driving directions - http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
- Hospital Compare(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) - CMS database of Medicare participating hospitals comparing quality measures of Heart Attack (AMI), Heart Failure Care, and Pneumonia Care. - http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/
- Mental Health Services Locator(Center for Mental Health Services) - http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/databases/
- Quality Check: Find a Health Care Organization(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx
- Search for Accredited Ambulatory Health Care Organizations(Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care) - http://www.aaahc.org/eweb/dynamicpage.aspx?site=aaahc_site&webcode=find_orgs
- American Hospital Association - http://www.aha.org/
- Joint Commission(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/
- Fast Facts on U.S. Hospitals(American Hospital Association) - http://www.aha.org/aha/resource-center/Statistics-and-Studies/fast-facts.html
- FASTATS: Hospital Utilization(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/hospital.htm
- HCUPnet - Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) - http://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/
- National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Outpatient Department Summary(National Center for Health Statistics) - Links to PDF - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad373.pdf
- Outpatient Department Visit Data(National Center for Health Statistics) - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/ahcd/outpatientcharts.htm
- Hospice Care - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hospicecare.html
- Nursing Homes - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nursinghomes.html
- Health System - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthsystem.html