NH hospitals

[Belmont Resident]

While none of the NH hospitals tested, scored great, our very own Lakes Region General Hospital was one up from the bottom of the barrel.
No surprising since many who live here will drive to Concord or further for care.
This data was in this months Consumer reports on hospital safety.
My wife and I have both had our less then favorable experiances with LRGH.

[tis]

THe latest NH Business Review had the salaries of the CEOs of the state's hospitals. Catholic Medical Center's CEO make over a million. We were saying people should go to school to be a CEO not a doctor.

[songkrai]

Anecdote.

Very recently.

Relative in car accident. Minor injuries but trip to LRGH Emergency Room.

I telephone hospital emergency room to seek information. LRGH person who answers phone in emergency room states that my relative is NOT in emergency room, not in hospital, no visit that day, never came in, not there, not in "Fast Track", never showed up and was not there.

After telephoning relative multiple times on cell phone relative answers cell phone and states that in fact is at LRGH Emergency Room and has been for 1.5 hours.

I repeatedly stated and spelled name to person at LRGH ER. "No" and "Sorry" but "not here".

How could this possibly happen? The LRGH ER is not that big.

I ended up driving down anyway. Enter LRGH ER and personally asked. Relative was in fact right there in ER in one of the ER rooms getting treatment for a minor injury and fully conscious.

English is my native language and the LRGH ER phone person spoke English the same as myself.

How could LRGH ER telephone person not know the name of a person right there in same area?

[songkrai]

On anothe note.

I have been to LRGH Emergency Room in years past as a patient.

My treatment in the LRGH ER was prompt, professional, and excellent treatment.

[old coot]

Originally Posted by tis

THe latest NH Business Review had the salaries of the CEOs of the state's hospitals. Catholic Medical Center's CEO make over a million. We were saying people should go to school to be a CEO not a doctor.

We are very lucky to have the Catholic Medical Center here in New Hampshire, it is a first rate hospital. I'd say its CEO earns every dime of his (or her) pay.

[Irrigation Guy]

Originally Posted by songkrai

On anothe note.

I have been to LRGH Emergency Room in years past as a patient.

My treatment in the LRGH ER was prompt, professional, and excellent treatment.

Ditto.

[Slickcraft]

There is also a prior thread here:
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ad.php?t=14383

[BroadHopper]

The doctors appears to be imcompetent. Both parent were misdiagnose by two difeerent LRGH doctors. Second opinions, one at Concord Hospital and the other at Winson-Salem Baptist got them on the right track although it was too late.

I broke my left humerous at Gunstock, The Ski patrol was top notch, the ambulance was excellent even though I am still shocked from the $5,000 bill. At LRGH, I was in the ER for 5 hours until an orthopedician arrive. The orthopedician wants to do immediate surgery to insert a pin and wire the bones together. Fortunately my friend who was with me is a doctor from Manchester and told me right away they don't wire bones anymore. I'm glad I seek second opinion form NH orthopedics in Manchester. A titanium plate and 13 titanium screws held 13 shattered pieces together. I'm back skiing and my arm is as good as ever.

The local orthopedic was p.oed by the way. He refused to prescribed pain killers for my trip to Manchester.

[Onshore]

I have broken a lot of bones and I cannot imagine how one breaks a humerous into 13 pieces. That bone is just not that big. I sincerely hope that once you found a good ortho your recovery was quick and complete.

[tis]

Originally Posted by old coot

We are very lucky to have the Catholic Medical Center here in New Hampshire, it is a first rate hospital. I'd say its CEO earns every dime of his (or her) pay.

I agree. I was just stating a fact not trying to be judgemental. However, your friend Obama does not think he should make any more than someone who doesn't work at all.

[NBR]

If I had a situation such as yours and the doctor refused pain medication for an ambulance ride I'd be having a discussion with the hospitals chief of staff.

If your situation is as it seems it is at best highly inappropriate.

With some experience with Lakes Regions ER I would give them a C- at best!

Other areas seem better.

[BroadHopper]

Originally Posted by shore things

I have broken a lot of bones and I cannot imagine how one breaks a humerous into 13 pieces. That bone is just not that big. I sincerely hope that once you found a good ortho your recovery was quick and complete.

I have the x-rays to prove it. I fell on boiler plate and the bone just shattered! Dr Wang is top ten doc for years on NH magazine. He specialized in reconstructing hands. Four and half hour surgery, 5 months rehabilitation and I am back crashing gates!

I highly recommend Dr. Wang.

[John A. Birdsall]

I would have to give them a thumbs up, They treated my son in law, and both my parents with very much success.

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

I broke my left humerous at Gunstock, The Ski patrol was top notch, the ambulance was excellent even though I am still shocked from the $5,000 bill.

Instead of taking a $5,000 ambulance ride, most likely I would have called a taxi from a payphone or hitch-hiked with a sign that read "LRGH - $10" and would probably get a ride pretty quick. $5,000 seems way over-priced? What up with that?

[Nineacreguy]

Have had many visits through the years to the LRGH ER. Professionally received and treated on every occasion!

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

I broke my left humerous at Gunstock,

I bet you didn't think that was too funny.

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by old coot

We are very lucky to have the Catholic Medical Center here in New Hampshire, it is a first rate hospital. I'd say its CEO earns every dime of her pay.

Alyson Pitman better know as the pitbull.

[SteveA]

Originally Posted by tis

I agree. I was just stating a fact not trying to be judgemental. However, your friend Obama does not think he should make any more than someone who doesn't work at all.

Were do you come up with this statement? The CEO of Catholic Medical Center was a she not a he... and Obama is for Equal pay for women and signed the Lily Ledbetter Act,

She has left CMC recently, and hasn't yet been replaced.

MANCHESTER, NH: CEO leaves Catholic Medical Center

"Alyson Pitman Giles, President at Catholic Medical Center, is leaving CMC after 13 years of working at the hospital, where she began as an occupational therapist. Giles will continue working at CMC as a transition consultant through June 30."

[tis]

Originally Posted by SteveA

Were do you come up with this statement? The CEO of Catholic Medical Center was a she not a he... and Obama is for Equal pay for women and signed the Lily Ledbetter Act,

She has left CMC recently, and hasn't yet been replaced.

MANCHESTER, NH: CEO leaves Catholic Medical Center

"Alyson Pitman Giles, President at Catholic Medical Center, is leaving CMC after 13 years of working at the hospital, where she began as an occupational therapist. Giles will continue working at CMC as a transition consultant through June 30."

From listening to him. He does not like the rich, thinks they should give all their money to the poor. But I won't say more to answer your question as we aren't suppose to discuss politics.

The salaries were from 2009. I don't know what she made before she left.

[HomeWood]

One of my concerns about living at the lake would be convenient/quick access to quality medical care.

We are kind of spoiled here in the Raleigh, NC area with more hospitals, specialists and local research than you can shake a stick at.

[Mr. V]

Laconia is in rural New Hampshire.

Good hospitals are in bigger cities.

If you want to retire in the Lakes Region, there will be a trade off.

[songkrai]

Originally Posted by tis

From listening to him. He does not like the rich, thinks they should give all their money to the poor. But I won't say more to answer your question as we aren't suppose to discuss politics.

OK. No politics. Your statement is completely false. With zero facts.

So let the moderator remove both YOUR comment and MINE.

You are entitled to your opinions. But there are no facts associated with your opinion.

[SIKSUKR]

Let me see,how do I stay non political?I am often amazed at peoples postion.Wake up,open your ears and listen to what comes out of our leaders mouth.All the facts one needs come straight from their lips.

[Seaplane Pilot]

Originally Posted by tis

From listening to him. He does not like the rich, thinks they should give all their money to the poor. But I won't say more to answer your question as we aren't suppose to discuss politics.

The salaries were from 2009. I don't know what she made before she left.

You are right on tis!

[winnipiseogee]

I apologize in advance for the length of my response but I get worked up about this stuff.

First off New Hampshire overall has the 5th best healthcare system in the country and ranked for its treatment and prevention of disease we are the second best in the nation. No one should worry about moving to New Hampshire when it comes to healthcare (All of the data comes from the Commonwealth Fund and here is the link)

As to our local heathcare options we are in great shape (and I am including all of our hospitals - LRGH, Speare and Huggins). The consumer reports ranking are very misleading. If you look into them further you will see that our own little LRGH ranked HIGHER than Mass Gen, Tufts Medical, Beth Israel, the Lahey Clinic and Boston Medical. Apparently while LRGH has a lower score than some NH hospitals its kicking the crap out of the best hospitals in Mass! The only thing that LRGH scored poorly on was a survey on how good they were at distributing information on prescription drugs.

I am in the business of taking people to the hospital and I take my family’s health very seriously. I used to have a potentially deadly heart condition for over 20 years. I’ve been to the best docs in both NYC and San Francisco and none have ever able to effectively treat it. When I moved back to NH 6 years ago it started acting up again. I wanted referrals to the best cardiologists at Mass Gen and Dartmouth. While meeting with an LRGH cardiologist to get the referral she correctly diagnosed my condition and had heart surgery set up for two days later (and she gave me her cell phone number and email address!). I dealt with a condition that caused my heart to occasionally beat at over 300 bpm for over 20 years and it was an LRGH cardiologist who finally solved my problem!

I am treated by LRGH, my wife is treated by LRGH and my baby is treated by LRGH. They are a great hospital and are only 12 minutes from our house. We do occasionally get referred to specialist at other hospitals but that is the nature of the beast. A small community hospital isn’t going to be able to do everything. My actual heart surgery was done at CMC. But for 95% of what we need LRGH is local and they do a good job.

That’s not to say everything is perfect at LRGH. I personally would like to see a nicer ER and have every patient room be a private room. These aren’t just LRGH problems though these are problems with every hospital in America today.

If you would like to tour of what is going on over LRGH just PM me and I would be happy to set it up for you. In a small community like ours we are incredibly lucky to have LRGH.

[Mr. V]

My somewhat negative opinion of LRGH is based on anecdotal evidence.

Here is something a bit more authoritative:

http://www.nhpghscorecard.org/hospitalratings.cfm

*scroll down toward the bottom to find LRGH*

[Slickcraft]

winnipiseogee: Clearly you are an advocate for LRGH which is fine.

Actually:
LRGH rated below average on avoiding readmission
Heart-attack patients have a 20% chance of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.
Heart-failure patients have a 26% chance of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.
Pneumonia patients have a 18% chance of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.

and below average on avoiding mortality.

Avoiding surgical-site infections was only average.

The communications on drug information was much worse than average.

Sure LRGH rated well in many areas and the problem areas are shared by many other hospitals. What I would look for is LRGH to admit that there is considerable room for improvement and that they have a real commitment to improvement. Stating that the status quo is pretty good and leaving it at that is not acceptable IMHO.

[Merrymeeting]

This study should be read with a critical eye and grain of salt.

The study is not based on quality of care or success rates of procedures. It mostly focuses on data about infection rates, re-admission rates, etc.

In a way, the study is biased toward the type of hospitals we have in the Lakes Region. It seems obvious to me that a hospital like Frisbee would have lower rates of re-admission and re-infection than a place like Dartmouth-Hitchcock. I doubt that Frisbee sees cases at the same quantity and severity as D-H, and I'd then assume that the chances of re-admission and infection are higher in the higher risk, higher number of opportunities seen at D-H.

My point is not to disparage either hospital (my mother would not still be with us if it were not for key, critical, and expert care at Frisbee one night). Rather the study should not be used to make judgements on all aspects of a hospital's care.

[winnipiseogee]

You are right - I am a fan of LRGH but I ALWAYS believe we should be trying to do things better. Since you reference heart-failure and heart attack patients let me mention something LRGH has been doing. About 2 years ago LRGH changed the way it treats ST elevation myocardial infarctions (certain types of heart attacks). As a result LRGH has a cardiac save rate around 24% while the nationwide average is closer to 12%. That means your are twice as likely to survive a heart attack in the lakes region than you are elsewhere in the country. It has been such a successful program that NH is now looking at rolling it out statewide. Where in the consumer reports article was something like that referenced?

Your comments about readmission rates are accurate but are you aware that readmission rates increase as income levels drop? This is because affluent people have better access to doctors, better access to home health care etc. That means a hospital life Wentworth-Douglas which is located in an affluent area will almost always have better readmission rates than hospitals in places like Laconia and Franklin which are not as affluent. Should hospitals really be punished for treating the poor?

It just disappoints me when a nationwide magazine uses misleading data and it makes good hospitals look bad. For example that same Consumer report article you reference suggests that Mass General is one of the worst in mass and much worse than LRGH. Meanwhile US News & World report just stated that Mass Gen is the best hospital in the entire country. How does that make sense?

I am just as big a fan of Huggins in wolfeboro, Speare in Plymouth, and Concord hospital. We have great hospitals in this state. The ones in rural areas might not be as big or shiny nor might not offer as many services but they are all critically important to keeping us all healthy.

[NoBozo]

I have been a subscriber to Consumer Reports for probably four decades. That publication is NOT the un-biased product testing organization it used to be. They don't use or test anything anymore. It's now mostly opinion. ...."The front seats are un-comfortable for persons over 300 pounds" etc...

The exception may be the CR annual automobile survey, ... where data comes from thousands of readers, makes it still worth the subscription cost. The rest is fluff. NB

[HomeWood]

Originally Posted by Mr. V

Laconia is in rural New Hampshire.

Good hospitals are in bigger cities.

If you want to retire in the Lakes Region, there will be a trade off.

And we are willing to make that trade in the future. Heck, Concord is one hour and Boston is 2 and some change.

[NoBozo]

Mass General is THE BEST in the nation.....I "Think" Cleveland Medical Center may be right up there too. I have been to Mass General with an imposable situation...(HE's DEAD) ....and they solved it. That was 15 years ago. NB

[Belmont Resident]

I’m not sure where you get your information and I do take what they post with a grain of salt, but they do a lot of testing as well as consumer feedback. We have gotten a lot of helpful info from CR.
As with anything, you can buy what is considered the most reliable and still get a lemon as even the most favorable products have failures.
If I understood correctly the information used to determine the hospitals safety was gathered from data the hospital keeps on actual situations it does not get into actual specialty areas but instead infections, readmissions, communications and scanning.
I noticed you posted favorably of Mass general, they were down near the bottom as well for Mass. Hospitals.
How safe a hospital is has nothing to do with how it performs it’s duties to diagnose and fix people.

[NoBozo]

Originally Posted by Belmont Resident

I noticed you posted favorably of Mass general, they were down near the bottom as well for Mass. Hospitals.
How safe a hospital is has nothing to do with how it performs it’s duties to diagnose and fix people.

BR: My wife and I were talking about this thread, and the CR report tonight. She remembered this item that I was not aware of, but I think it supports my point. I thought you might find this interesting. NB

http://health.usnews.com/health-news...the-honor-roll

[RailroadJoe]

No mention of CHAD at Mary Hitchcock at Dartmouth

[Newbiesaukee]

I have avoided commenting on this thread because the issue of rating hospitals and health care is so very complicated. First of all, any one person's experience is of very little help in deciding what is generally true. This does not mean that an individual's experience isn't true, it just isn't helpful.

As a number of people have pointed out, a major problem is deciding what is important...outcome,safety,convenience,cost,mortal ity, etc. An obvious example of this problem: if you rate cardiac care on the basis of how many people die, then the best hospitals may have the higher death rate because they get the sickest people. The US news poll mentioned above is, to a large extent, a popularity contest. I say that even though I did most of my training at the Hospital ranked no. 1 for 21 years before being displaced by Mass General. I think that CR tries to do an honest job...but unless you really understand how the hospitals are ranked, you really cannot make an informed evaluation. Someone said the CR does a good job with autos, and it does. However, styling is really important to me when I buy a car and this is not really considered by CR .
Is it hopeless? No, and it is necessary that we do try to evaluate the quality of care; it is just a very difficult task.

A last point. When I was working, patients often asked me which was the best hospital. My answer was..." it depends." If I needed a simple procedure, then I would go to the most convenient, friendly local hospital with the most caring staff. On the other hand, if I had a rare condition and only one physician in the world had experience with it, I would go to him/her regardless of convenience,expense,obnoxious personality, etc. Finally, there is really no best hospital; it really depends on what you have and what you need.

There is a lot more, but my wife says I am ranting. Probably...but this is more important than the Canada Geese p@@p I usually complain about.

[NoBozo]

The Consumer Reports report on hospitals is in the AUGUST edition. It took me awhile to find it because I was looking in JULY..and back to JUNE. NB

[NoBozo]

Originally Posted by NoBozo

Mass General is THE BEST in the nation.....I "Think" Cleveland Medical Center may be right up there too. I have been to Mass General with an imposable situation...(HE's DEAD) ....and they solved it. That was 15 years ago. NB

I thought I would elaborate just a little in my case. I had a MASSIVE INFECTION due to a botched Aortic Aneurysm OP at my local hospital. I went from Hosp #1 to Hosp #2 to Mass General in one day. The CR report was talking about infections....

Thankfully: I am sill here to give grief to Winni Forum members as required. NB

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by NoBozo

The Consumer Reports report on hospitals is in the AUGUST edition. It took me awhile to find it because I was looking in JULY..and back to JUNE. NB

Hmmm, my first post in the original thread clearly indicated the August issue along with the NH scores.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ad.php?t=14383

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

Hmmm, my first post in the original thread clearly indicated the August issue along with the NH scores.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ad.php?t=14383

Sorry SC I must have missed your post on the same subject!
My wife had major problems with LRGH and a friend almost lost his leg as a result of doctor error. I've had problems as well but nothing compared to theirs.
Now when I go to my primary care doctor I specifically ask for referrals to doctors not related to LRGH.
Thing is although he is private, he is connected to LRGH so he doesn’t like to do it, I told him I’d just go find another doctor.

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by Belmont Resident

Sorry SC I must have missed your post on the same subject!
\.

BR, I had assumed that you simply missed the other thread. I have quoted the text of that 1st post below as it included the NH rankings.
SC

The August issue of Consumer Reports has a several page article on hospital safety. Data was obtained from: the CDC, Medicare and Medicade along with infection data from the states and the Leapfrog Group http://www.leapfroggroup.org/

The Aug issue has safety ratings for the north east states listed in rank order by state. Items like infections, readmissions, communications and complications entered into the ratings. The highest score of any hospital in the country was a 72; Billings Montana.

Eleven hospitals in NH were rated, listed in rank order with score:

Frisbie Memorial - Rochester – 67
Wentworth-Douglas - Dover – 67
St Joseph Nashua – 66
Catholic Medical - Manchester – 64
Exeter – 62
Cheshire Med center – Keene – 62
Portsmouth Regional – 55
Concord – 55
Dartmouth Hitchcock – Lebanon – 54
Elliot – Manchester – 53
Lakes Region General – Laconia – 49
Parkland – Derry – 47

The LRGH score is a concern to us as that is where go for care. They rated only average for infections and below average for readmissions and communications. Maybe public pressure will edge them toward better internal policies.

[NoBozo]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

Hmmm, my first post in the original thread clearly indicated the August issue along with the NH scores.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ad.php?t=14383

OK SC I see it now: I missed that thread all together. BR mentioned "This Months" edition in the first post in this thread. NB

[gokart-mozart]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

BR, I had assumed that you simply missed the other thread. I have quoted the text of that 1st post below as it included the NH rankings.
SC

Exeter - 62....ooops

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by gokart-mozart

Exeter - 62....ooops

Pre Hep C of course