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.
- Helping You Choose the Hospital for You(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) - http://www.jointcommission.org/GeneralPublic/Choices/hc_hap.htm
- 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/
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Hospital Hints
(National Institute on Aging) - http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/hospital.asp
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Your Guide to Choosing Quality Health Care(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) - Large PDF file - http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qualguid.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qntlitesp/
- Delirium Episodes Could Hasten Alzheimer's-Linked Decline(05/06/2009, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_83900.html
- Hospital Volume Imperfect Gauge of Cancer Surgery Outcomes(05/04/2009, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_83769.html
- Clinics Less Likely to Refer Heart Patients to Cardiologists(04/28/2009, HealthDay) - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_83507.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/301/12/1304.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
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JAMA Patient Page: On Call(American Medical Association) - Links to PDF - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/300/10/1262.pdf
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JAMA Patient Page: Quality of Care(American Medical Association) - Links to PDF - http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/300/16/1962.pdf
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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
- Build Your Question List(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) - http://www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer/questionBuilder.aspx
- Hand Hygiene Saves Lives(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/Patient_Admission_Video.html
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Hospitals(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/intervention=%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: Expert consensus vs empirical estimation of injury severity: effect on... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19380645&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Bariatric surgery outcomes at designated centers of excellence vs nondesignated... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19380644&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Rural healthcare manager academy: a best practice in Pennsylvania workforce... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19365906&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 Urgent Care Centers by State(Urgent Care Association of America) - http://www.ucaoa.org/ucaoa_orgs.php
- 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
- FastStats: 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: 2005 Outpatient Department Summary(National Center for Health Statistics) - Large PDF file - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad389.pdf
- Outpatient Department Visit Data(National Center for Health Statistics) - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/ahcd/outpatientcharts.htm
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Improve Hospital-to-Home Transitions - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/spring08/articles/spring08pg22a.html
- 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