How Do We Measure Quality in Health Care?

When choosing health care for you and your loved ones, how do you judge its quality and safety?

An outcome is the result of a health treatment or surgery.

Hospitals report on key outcomes, such as:

Low mortality rates.
Surgical infections.
Hospital readmissions.
Length of stay.

But people who have major health treatments may also want more detailed outcomes for certain issues. These might include open heart surgery, a total joint replacement, or pediatric interventions.

UPMC has measured performance quality for decades. We've designed clinical measures to ensure the success of the services we offer. This way, you and your family can see that we meet or exceed national benchmarks.

Outcomes let you see how well UPMC does in key areas compared with other hospitals. Those same outcomes also encourage us to always improve our care's quality through:

Innovation in care delivery.
Best practices.
Education.
Training.

We invite you to take some time to review our systemwide outcomes. Our goal is to give you and your loved ones high quality, innovative care.

Knowing our outcomes also empowers you to make confident and well-informed health care decisions. We encourage you to discuss our outcomes and measures of quality with your doctor or care team.

Many national organizations review and grade hospital quality and safety. See UPMC's latest national rankings.

There are also other resources that compare UPMC with other hospitals:

The state of Pa. has resources to help you find the services you need at local health care clinics.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can also help you find and compare nearby providers, hospitals, home health services, nursing homes, and rehabilitation services. This way, you can find expert providers.

Check to make sure UPMC accepts your insurance. If you have questions or concerns, call our help line at 833-879-5015.

Your doctor can help you find quality data for your health problem. You should always feel comfortable asking about your doctor’s expertise and outcomes. These can include their number of treatments and negative outcomes, and how those numbers compare to national averages.

UPMC’s Find a Doctor service provides details on our experts’ educational backgrounds, board certifications, and hospital affiliations. It also has info about specialties and accepted insurance plans.