Hospital Care
The information below is to help you and your family make informed decisions about where to get best care.
- Hospital Comparison by Leapfrog
- Hospital Compare by Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Comparisons of Device Associated Infection Rates by Washington State Department of Health
- Comparisons of Laboratory Identified Infection Rates by Washington State Department of Health
- Comparisons of Surgical Site Infection Rates by Washington State Department of Health
- Find the Best Care at the Best Price – Washington State HealthCare Compare
Choose the Right Doctors
First and foremost, your doctor should listen to you and provide you with medical advice that meets yours and your family’s needs and values. If your doctor fails to listen to you, find a different doctor. You also want to know if your doctor has ever been sanctioned by the state medical board for substandard care or misconduct. The following links helps you make informed decisions on choosing your doctor.
- 9 Steps to help you find the right doctor by Consumer Reports
- State Department of Health on physician credential search
- Physician Compare by Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- Healthgrades
- Find Doctors in your network
- Find Doctors near you by Vitals.com
- Find a Doctor by MD.COM
- Best Doctors in Seattle by RateMDs.Com
- Find your doctor payment records under CMS’s OpenPaymentsData. To help determine if your doctor has been compromised or has special interest that might to contrary to your welfare
- Search surgeon’s safety scores by ProPublica
- Doctors Disciplinary Records Search
- How to check a doctor’s background and credentials
- 10 most popular physician rating and review sites
- Pharmaceutical and medical device companies are now required by law to release details of their payments to a variety of doctors and U.S. teaching hospitals for promotional talks, research and consulting, among other categories. Use this tool to search for general payments (excluding research and ownership interests) made from August 2013 to December 2014. This information may help evaluate how objective your doctor is in prescribing drugs and recommending devices.
CMS Nursing Home Comparisons
The CMS comparisons help you make an informed decision on choosing the right nursing home for your or your loved ones.
You’ve Suffered Medical Harm. What Do You Do Now?
What Do You Do After Suffering a Medical Harm?
Below is a list of recommended steps to take:
- Call multiple attorneys who specialize in medical cases.
- Connect with Patient Safety Advocacy Groups. They provide moral support and can direct you to the right people or agencies.
- Soon after the incident, ask for complete medical records, including doctor and nursing notes, lab results, audit trails, and copies of diagnostic images.
- Ask early on to have your version of events noted in any investigation.
- If a patient has died, consult with your attorney about whether to arrange for an autopsy.
- When the doctor and hospital officials contact you or offer compensation, do not accept or make any counter offer until you have consulted with an attorney. Do ask how they will prevent similar future harm to other patients and whether other patients have been harmed before.
- Irrespective of your legal course, report the incident to regulatory agencies like state medical boards, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the FDA, and the Joint Commission.
How to Be A Proactive Patient and Consumer
Under this directory, we have included many handouts that aim to help you and your family to ask the right questions during your medical care encounters and to make the best, informed healthcare decisions. You can download them to take with you to your doctors’ offices or share them with your friends and families.
Remember, it is your body and your health. In shared-decision making, “nothing about me without me.
Informed Consent, Patient Rights, and Shared-Decision Making
- Informed Consent Checklist
- Know Your Rights
- Patient Rights and Informed Consent
- Patient Visit Guide for Shared Decision Making
- Health Privacy
- CMS Federal Regulation on Patient Rights Protection: 42 CFR 482.13 – Condition of participation: Patient’s rights
- CMS Patient Rights and Restraints
- Are You A Hospital Inpatient or Outpatient? ASK If on Medicare
- If on Medicare, Know Your Rights on Outpatient Observation Status
Speak Up and Effective Communication with Your Care Team
- Communicating with Your Doctor
- Questions to Ask Your Doctors
- Getting Help in Hospital
- Speak Up to Avoid Medical Errors
- 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors
- Speak Up to Avoid Medication Mistakes
- 4 Medication Safety Tips for Elderly
- Tips for Talking to Your Pharmacist
- 5 Questions to Ask before Test Treatment or Procedure
- What Should Patients Do to Make Care Safe
Tips on Surgery Questions
- Having Surgery — What Do You Need To Know
- Be Prepared for Your Surgery
- Questions to Ask If You Need Treatment Or Surgery
- Safe Surgery Handout
- Surgical Patient Checklist
Questions on Infection Prevention
- 5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before You Take Antibiotics
- ABC of Antibiotics
- Factsheet Protect Yourself from Sepsis
- Five Things You Can Do to Prevent Infection
- Healthcare Associated Infections-What Patients Can Do
Simple Medication List
Where to Report Poor Quality of Care and/or Healthcare Fraud
If you believe you or your loved ones were mistreated or harmed at hospitals or in clinics, you can file complaints to voice your concerns about the poor quality of care you received. The following links take you to various state and federal agencies that are supposed to protect the public. You have the right to have your voice heard.
- If you need to report poor quality of care but do not know which regulatory commission you should report to, go to Washington State Department of Health general website
- If your complaint relates to the care provided by a physician or a physician assistant, you can file a complaint with the Medical Quality Assurance Commission (MQAC)
- For concerns relating to nursing care, send your complaint to the Nursing Quality Assurance Commission
- If you are concerned about an overall care at a hospital, you can file a complaint with the state facility and hospital licensing office
- If you are covered by Medicare and have concerns about your care, you can file a complaint with federal agency Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Where to Report Adverse Events Involving Medications and Faulty Medical Products
For these types of adverse events, we highly recommend that you also report the incident to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This federal agency maintains Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database that contains adverse event reports, medication error reports and product quality complaints resulting in adverse events. The data will help support the FDA’s post-marketing safety surveillance program for drug and therapeutic biologic products
Medical References
This section contains a list of medical references such as a medical dictionary, Mayo Clinic information, Merck Manual, and WebMD. Be informed. According to the 2006 report by Institute of Medicine, “Preventing Medication Errors”, medication errors harm about 1.5 million people in the US each year. We hope these references will help you make informed decisions on the medications you are taking or will be taking.
- Dictionary of Medical Terms
- Mayo Clinic General Health Information
- Medscape Reference on Drugs, Diseases, and Procedures
- Merck Manual Home Health Care and practical guide to evaluation and treatment
- Webmd Home Health Care for everyone
- General Drug Information (Drugs.com)
- General Drug Information (RxList.com)
- MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program
- Online Pharmacies Reviews
- Physician Desk Reference on Drugs
- Public Citizen’s information on worst pills
- Risks & Warnings on Drugs and Medical Devices
