Is Your Hospital "The One for cancer survival?" How can we tell?

Tuesday

On Twitter today: Good-looking graphics with a clear legend took me into the Memorial Sloan Kettering article from last fall on how we measure a hospital's five-year cancer survival rates.  You can access it from the TW post.    Their numbers indicate that one type of specific cancer hospital has better 5-year survival outcomes for cancer.

I had to look online for a definition of PPS. The hospital type with the best survival rate is exempt from the Medicare PPS system which is:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

May 19, 2015 - A Prospective Payment System (PPS) is a method of reimbursement in which Medicare payment is made based on a predetermined, fixed amount. The payment amount for a particular service is derived based on the classification system of that service (for example, diagnosis-related groups for inpatient hospital services).

I opted for a local hospital for my DCIS, rather than the "big name" cancer hospital "near my area."   I suspect mine may be one of Other...remaining hospitals including community hospitals.  I salute their outstanding outpatient surgery, but I don't know their cancer records.

Would I do the same again?  Maybe not.  I didn't want the "team" setting, which can be rather hard to manipulate if one seriously wants to leave a doctor on the team.  (Okay, I'm also a coward about driving to the big city.) 

See the graph an read the article: https://www.mskcc.org/blog/msk-study-examines-care-outcomes-among-u-s-hospitals

I wish you health.