Alta Bates Ranks 'Very Good' in Consumer Reports Hospital Survey

The first-ever surgery ratings by Consumer Reports places Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley in the "very good" category, or second tier of the consumer advocate agency's familiar five-tier rating system ranging from excellent to poor.

The new surgery safety ratings, announced Wednesday, look at results for Medicare patients at 2,463 U.S. hospitals. 

The survey also provides a breakdown of results in several categories. Alta Bates received an overall safety rating of "very good" and a score of 50 on a 100-point range. It also was placed in the second or "very good" tier for avoiding bloodstream infections and adverse events from surgery.

It received a "good" rating in the middle tier for avoiding surgical site infections, a "poor" rating (fifth tier) in communicating drug information, and "excellent" (first tier) in nurse-patient communication.

Scores ranged across the spectrum for other Bay Area hospitals, with the Washington Hospital Medical System in Fremont as the only one in the East Bay to receive the top "excellent" overall rating.

Two East Bay hospitals were in the "very good" tier: Alta Bates Summit in Berkeley and Alta Bates Summit in Oakland. 

Those receiving a "good" rating overall in the East Bay included Doctors Medical Center in Pinole, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, the John Muir Medical Centers in Concord and Walnut Creek, the Kaiser Oakland Medical Center, the San Ramon Regional Medical Center and ValleyCare Medical Center in Pleasanton.

St. Rose Hospital in Hayward received an overall "fair" rating, and Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch was rated "poor."

"I’m proud to see Alta Bates Summit ranks above average in their survey," said Alta Bates Summit spokeswoman Carolyn Kemp in an email reply to a Patch request for comment.

"We support the public reporting of quality indicators and believe public reporting will result in hospitals having an increased focus on patient safety and quality of care," she said.

"While we’re not familiar with Consumer Report’s exact methodology, we know California consumers already have access to another publicly available hospital quality report card known as CalHospitalCompare.org (www.calhospitalcompare.org). This online resource, considered to be one of the most robust hospital report cards in the nation, provides consumers with more than 50 quality-of-care indicators."

Alta Bates Summit in Berkeley is ranked "average" in the CalHospitalCompare ratings on a variety of measures.

"Up to 30 percent of hospital patients suffer infections, heart attacks, strokes, or other complications after surgery," Consumer Reports said in a news release explaining why the organization undertook the survey.

"But consumers have very little to go on when selecting a hospital because it’s not clear which hospitals are doing the best job at keeping surgery patients safe," the release said. "Although hospitals are required to report to government agencies and some submit data to national registries to see how they stack up against one another, vital safety information remains largely hidden from consumers."

The organization said the complete report is available online in the September issue of its magazine.