NORTHEAST OHIO Study gives Forum Northside 5 stars in 6 categories

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
Mahoning Valley residents often receive five-star treatment at area hospitals, a new study says.
Hospitals operated by Forum Health and Humility of Mary Health Partners received top honors in eight of 10 categories used in the study by Community Healthcare Coalition.
On Friday, the North Canton-based group, which represents 75 employers in health-care buying and lobbying, issued its "Consumer Guide to Hospital Quality," which rates 58 hospitals in Northeast Ohio.
Forum Health Northside Medical Center in Youngstown led all local hospitals with five-star rankings in six categories.
John Gonda, a Forum spokesman said, company officials would need time to review the study before commenting on the rankings.
The coalition studied Medicare data to rate the hospitals from best to worst. It then compared the Northeast Ohio hospitals with others in Ohio.
Those that ranked in the top 20 percent of Ohio hospitals received a five-star rating. The rating system went down to one star for those that finished in the bottom 20 percent of Ohio hospitals.
Local rankings
St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, which is part of Humility of Mary, received top rankings in three categories, and Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren posted two five-star ratings.
Dr. Clifford Waldman, chief medical officer for Humility of Mary, said he was pleased that St. Elizabeth finished with nothing lower than three stars, which designated average quality.
"That reflects the good, quality care we are providing, but we certainly will be looking to find opportunities for improvement," he said.
The other local hospital operated by Humility of Mary, St. Joseph Health Center, received rankings from one star to four stars.
Dr. Waldman said officials will be looking to determine if St. Joseph's lower rankings were because of procedure outcomes or limitations of the study. He said the study's weighting of treatment volumes is debatable. This factor can hurt smaller hospitals, which don't have as high a volume as large medical centers, he added.
Besides procedure volumes, the study used statistics on the number of patients who died before discharge, the number of complications and the number of patients who died from complications.
A limitation
Waldman said another limitation to the study was its use of 2002 data from Medicaid, although the latest available information.
Amanda Walsh, health care information consultant for the coalition, said 10 medical categories were used because those had Medicare data that was available to the public.
She said coalition officials hopes hospitals will cooperate in future studies so other specialties, such as pediatrics and obstetrics, can be included.
The coalition published the study to help employees of its member companies make sound decisions on health care, she said. More information is available on the coalition's Web site at www.ehpco.com.
The coalition included the Mahoning Valley because some of its members, such as FirstEnergy Corp. and Timken Co., have employees here.
Michele Hoffmeister, director of public relations at Salem Community Hospital, said officials needed more time to review the study before commenting. Tina Smith, spokeswoman for East Liverpool City Hospital, said she was unfamiliar with the study.
shilling@vindy.com