A hospital is a hospital is a hospital ....

Well, not really. According to a major study of 40 million Medicare patient records, the quality of care provided by American hospitals varies widely, with a patient who walks out of hospital "A" in complete health never knowing that he or she might never have survived hospital "B" after receiving treatment for the same medical condition.

HealthGrades, an independent health care ratings company, perused Medicaid patient records from 2007 to 2009, focusing especially on 13 common patient safety indicators that help identify preventable medical mistakes -- such as misdiagnosis or medication errors -- and spotlight both problem and top-quality medical facilities.

Those indicators include:

•· Foreign objects left inside a body following surgery

•· Excessive bleeding or bruising following surgery

•· Bed sores

•· Catheter-induced bloodstream infections

•· Post-operative respiratory failure

•· Post-operative sepsis

HealthGrades found the frequency in surgical errors and other incidents of medical malpractice to be widely differentiated among hospitals. Dr. Rick May, the company's vice president of clinical quality service, says the study indicates that, "There are huge, life-and-death consequences associated with where a patient chooses to seek hospital care."

May says that the variance is so great that HealthGrades is actually recommending that would-be patients do something they rarely ever do, namely, do comparative research on hospitals before being admitted to one.

HealthGrades states that Cleveland and Toledo are on the list of the 10 cities nationwide that have the best-performing hospitals.

Related Resource: www.medicinenet.com "Hospital Safety Varies Widely Nationwide: Report" March 9, 2011