MHA (Master of Health Adm.)

One of the best blessings in life that a man can get is that he should never have to visit a hospital; but there are more chances of you winning a jackpot lottery than you not having to visit a medical facility sooner or later in life. It’s unavoidable. And when that eventually happens you are placing your well-being in the hands of other people. Well-meaning and qualified no doubt, but the trepidation remains. So what do you do? One thing that most of us bank on to take us through unforeseen situations is medical insurance; the other thing to do which most of us may not be very particular about is researching the record and stats of a medical clinic or hospital.

If you or a family member is going to get admitted to a hospital you need to have an assurance that the medical facility is capable of treating you. Records maintained by a clinic are also of tremendous help in disseminating knowledge, enabling doctors to look up established treatment protocols and implement them. Proper and complete patient medical records help streamline and automate the work in a healthcare environment and reduce risks

The internet is a great resource for looking up records and stats of a hospital or medical facility. Hospitals maintain easy-to-navigate portals that you can browse through, you may be required to login before you can access patient records and other stats. Statistics, facts, and figures on a hospital’s site can give you a picture of how the organization functions. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a great resource for looking up hospital records. You can learn about the hospital’s financial performance, get an overview of facilities available, and browse through statistical highlights. You can actually create your own statistics on figures related to national estimate on use of hospitals by children; national level stats on mental health hospitalizations; state level statistics on all stays; and sundry other details on hospitals all over America.

Patient records in several hospitals and many medical centers are now stored on a centralized database in an electronic format. This has made it easy for all, patients as well as medical staff, to access the records. Several hospitals will also let you access the records online. Some hospitals will charge you a fee for accessing the records and may even deliver hard copies of the records to an address specified by you. If the hospitals still maintain a paper trail, you may have to first check whether the records are still available, submit a reason for perusing the information, and fill some forms.

There are many independent rating organizations that gather data on hospitals and clinics and present researched findings for you to refer. You can compare physicians based on their specialty and your need. Here is a federal government resource that lets you compare hospitals in your area.

Patient reviews on online forums are powerful pointers to a medical clinic’s record in treating patients. There are many forums where people meet to exchange experiences, ask questions, help with answers, and provide references. You can draw your own conclusions based on how forcefully a medical clinic is endorsed by members in a forum. Look up such forums for information on the records and statistics of a given medical clinic.