Knowing where to turn for care can literally make the difference between life and death. But making the right choice in New York State is a little easier with the help of the New York State Hospital Profile. The site highlights hospital quality measures and treatments for specific conditions at 239 hospitals statewide.

State health officials said the goal is to give consumers access to accurate, reliable and timely information so they can make better health care decisions. The website compliments the NYS Physician Profile, which provides background information on doctors.

Although patients usually follow the advice of their doctors, those doctors may just give them a choice of several facilities. In that case, they may want more information about each hospital so they can make an informed decision.

There are differences in the specialties, expertise, and experience available at various hospitals, the website notes. Some hospitals focus on certain types and levels of care and are better equipped for those types than for others. The hospital profile site allows consumers to review data by health condition, surgical procedure or a facility’s designation as a specialty care center, for stroke or burns, for instance.

It includes information on four health conditions heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia and prevention of surgical infections–and up to 20 related services. It also reports risk-adjusted surgical outcomes on adult cardiac bypass and valve surgery, as well as angioplasty procedures and pediatric-specific heart surgery statewide.

The hospital receives scores for each condition, which indicate the percentage of eligible patients who received the recommended care. For example, an 85 percent score means that the hospital provided recommended care to 85 percent of its eligible patients.

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