Hospital report cards don't lead to improvement

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Giving hospitals feedback on how they deal with patients who have heart attacks does not improve the outcome.
We already know that many patients who are admitted to hospital with an acute heart attack don't always get the appropriate treatments - particularly prescription of drugs like aspirin which can help prevent a recurrence. So how can hospitals be persuaded to do better?

A team at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, carried out a study to determine whether issuing 'report cards', which give feedback on how hospitals are doing on treating heart patients, is a good thing. Report cards are already widely used in the USA. The hospitals in this study received their report cards either immediately after the patients' discharge or fourteen months later. There was no difference in prescription rates of beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, lipid-lowering drugs and aspirin between the two groups. The researchers conclude that report cards are not an effective way of improving the quality of care provided to patients who have had a heart attack. Other, more effective, ways of ensuring patients get the care they need must be sought.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 20th July 2005 Volume 294 pages 309-317