New Health Care Directory Fosters Increased Patient Awareness

A new web-based directory provides valuable information to prospective patients about physicians and hospitals across the country. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) recently announced the launch of a comprehensive online directory that examines various elements of health care based on care outcomes, patient views on providers, test and treatment data, and overall costs of services and care.

"The directory is a place to go for people who want to research doctors and hospitals for themselves and others," said RWJF senior vice president Dr. John R. Lumpkin in a statement released by the foundation. "Measuring the quality and cost of our health care health care and making it publicly available enables those who give, receive and pay for care to make the right choices for them, to improve health care and lower costs."

"Comparing Health Care Quality: A National Directory" provides access to public information from all but four states. On the site, New Jersey patients can gain access to relevant online resources from the Department of Health and Senior Services, N.J. Health Care Quality Institute and New Jersey Hospital Association regarding everything from heart failure to hospital price comparisons from Bergen County, Passaic County, Hudson County and other areas.

Increased patient education is an effective way to provide incentives to medical professionals to meet accepted standards of care and avoid medical malpractice liability. As the foundation explains in introducing its new tool for patients, every community in the country is susceptible to bad care from doctors and hospitals. Poor medical outcomes caused by physican's errors and surgeon's mistakes are a waste of resources and a deadly threat to too many families.