Representatives of several regional hospitals were highly critical of a July 5 Consumer Reports national study on hospital safety that ranked two Westchester facilities among the four least safe hospitals in the state.
Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla and Saint Joseph”™s Medical Center in Yonkers received overall safety performance scores of 25 and 26, respectively, on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the best possible rating.
Nine Westchester hospitals were rated by Consumer Reports as part of the study, with all nine receiving safety ratings below 50.
The Greater New York Hospital Association said the Consumer Reports study “joins a growing parade of hospital report cards that, taken collectively, contain conflicting and contradictory results for individual hospitals.”
Westchester Medical Center released a four-page response to the study, in which it notes Consumer Reports gave a 52 rating to a hospital whose operations were suspended last year by the state Department of Health for safety concerns while several nationally recognized hospitals received ratings in the upper 20s and low 30s.
“We are taking exception to Consumer Reports”™ characterization of the hospitals they rated and the apparent disconnect in the methodology they used in ascribing their ratings,” the medical center statement read.
Likewise, St. Joseph”™s Medical Center refuted the study, saying in a statement that it “does not accurately reflect the level of care that is delivered every day” at the Yonkers hospital.
The study included 1,159 hospitals nationwide and nearly 120 in New York.
Roughly 51 percent of all hospitals surveyed received below-50 ratings.
The ratings were based on six criteria: infections experienced by patients, readmissions, communication with patients, the frequency of CT scanning, complications resulting from treatment and deaths.
The state”™s highest-rated hospital by Consumer Reports is Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, which received an overall rating of 61.
Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt Manor was the highest-rated hospital in Westchester, receiving a 47.
In comparison, the highest-rated hospital in the country was Billings Clinic in Montana, which received a 72 rating. New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital, both highly regarded teaching hospitals in New York City, received a 32 and a 30, respectively.
“The safety scores provide a window into our nation”™s hospitals, exposing worrisome risks that are mostly preventable,” said John Santa, director of the Yonkers-based Consumer Reports”™ Health Ratings Center, in a release.
Other Westchester hospitals that were rated include: Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, which received a 45; White Plains Hospital Center, which received a 43; Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, which received a 43; Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, which received a 42; St. John”™s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, which received a 36; and Lawrence Hospital Center in Bronxville, which received a 36.
