Warning: These Texas Hospitals Received A ‘D’ Rating For Patient Safety

As a patient, it can be difficult sometimes to advocate for yourself. And when it comes to picking a hospital for treatment, you usually must go to the one dictated by your insurance or primary care physician.

However, there are times when you can and should stick up for yourself. Part of that is being responsible- you can and must do your research before doing something major, like a surgery or a serious medical treatment.

How To Research Your Texas Hospital

Researching a hospital seems difficult, doesn't it? It doesn't feel like that information is readily available. However, one patient advocacy group has made it easier to know more about how well a hospital performs in different areas of care.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Guide is an excellent place to see if your potential hospital "makes the grade." This is quite literal, as Leapfrog categorizes hospitals as "A" for excellent through "D" which I would define as dismal if not dangerous.

Of course, some hospitals are better in some areas than others. One hospital could lose major points of billing transparency, which is extremely important, while another gets a bad rating because of serious surgical errors. If I had to pick between the tow, I'm pretty certain I'd go with the first one.

Leapfrog has an answer for that too- you can dig into individual metrics and categories to see exactly where a hospital succeeds and where it needs improvement.

Leapfrog's Metrics For Texas Hospitals

There are several metrics that Leapfrog looks at, including Infections, Problems With Surgery, Safety Problems, Practices to Prevent Errors, and Doctors, Nurses & Hospital Staff. Each category is further divided into more areas, so you can really drill down if you want to (and you should want to).

While many Texas hospitals scored an excellent A, some Texas hospitals have room for improvement. Nine Texas hospitals received a "D" from Leapfrog- indicating either serious problems in the hospital (or a seriously flawed data set). Either way, you'll want to know before you go.