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Hernando Today

Survey: Local Hospitals Are Below Average

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By TONY HOLT

Published: June 5, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Patients can easily find out which hospital is likely to give them the best overnight care.

All they have to do is check the evaluations.

The results are discouraging.

Oak Hill Hospital and Brooksville Regional Hospital were among the more than 3,000 hospitals that participated in the nationwide survey. The results were published last week by Consumer Reports.

In terms of hospital stays, both facilities scored below the national average in all 10 categories.

If below 60 percent is a failing grade, Brooksville flunked in eight of the 10 categories. Oak Hill scored an "F" in six.

"It's important the public (are) informed and educated on their selection of health care," said Oak Hill spokesman Richard Linkul.

"I think we're on a road toward 100 percent," said Brooksville Regional Chief Executive Officer Kathy Burke. "We are seeing continued improvement."

Neither would be more specific about the statistics. Linkul was on vacation and Burke did not have the figures in front of her during the phone interview.

Hundreds of patients were surveyed about their hospital experiences. They were asked about how well nurses and staffers communicated, how quickly they received help or how well their pain was controlled.

Did hospital staff explain about medicines? How clean were the bathrooms? Were the areas around the patients' rooms kept quiet at night?

Those are a sample of the survey questions.

Oak Hill and Brooksville Regional scored highest in the recovery information category, scoring 78 and 72 percent, respectively.

Spring Hill Regional Hospital is owned by Health Management Associates, which also owns Brooksville Regional. The survey results were for both hospitals, Burke said.

The national average is 79 percent, while the average for Northern Florida was at 74 percent, according to Consumer Reports.

All of the results are from patients who had overnight hospital stays from October 2006 through June 2007.

Brooksville fared the worst in the bathroom category, scoring 42 percent. Oak Hill's lowest score was in the medicine explanation survey. Only 40 percent of those surveyed said staffers gave them adequate information on the medicine they had just prescribed. Oak Hill's average score in the hospital experience categories was 55.1 percent. Brooksville's was 53.1.

When it came to advanced care, such as surgeries, heart attack response and pneumonia treatments, both hospitals scored at or above the national average in every category.

"All hospitals are working hard to provide the best health care possible," Linkul said, emphasizing how this month's results are expected to be higher than the ones most recently published. "The current scores are even better than what was reported."

Burke put a positive spin on the results, but conceded the hospital was taking steps toward better evaluations and benchmarks. The hospitals at both Brooksville and Spring Hill have instituted incentive programs and communication training for staffers to improve their scores.

She said surveys are necessary for both the patient and the hospital.

"The public have a right to have access to this information," she said. "I'm a firm believer and supporter of transparency in health care."

Transparency means providing the public with better information on a hospital's pricing and quality.

The 10th question in the hospital experience survey asked patients whether they would recommend the hospital to friends and family. The results reflected the averages. Oak Hill scored 54 percent while Brooksville scored 51 percent. By comparison, Citrus Memorial Hospital, Pasco Regional Medical Center and Regional Medical Center in Bayonet Point scored 64, 65 and 66 percent on the same question.

The national average was 67 percent.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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