In its first report that looks at hospital quality by states, HealthGrades reports that Florida hospitals overall did better than those in the neighboring states of Georgia and Alabama -- much, much better in fact than the average in Alabama.
On the other hand, the report found quality of care on average was much better in Arizona, California, Illinois and Ohio than in Florida. The period studied was 2009 through 2011.
In its one-pager on Florida, HealthGrades found the state risk-adjusted mortality rates were better than the national average for heart failure, stroke and pneumonia, and worse on respiratory failure, sepsis, and surgery for abdominal aorta.
HealthGrades is a Denver company that uses government health data to produce reports for hospitals and other health-care organizations.
