Consumer Reports Publishes Surgical Safety Ratings for U.S. Hospitals

Consumer Reports has published surgical safety ratings for U.S. hospitals to help consumers make informed decisions when selecting a hospital for a surgical procedure. Developed from billing claims that hospitals submitted to Medicare for patients 65 or older, from 2009 through 2011, the surgical safety ratings cover 2,463 hospitals from all 50 states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. In preparing the data, Consumer Reports found wide variation in surgical performance among seemingly similar hospitals.