Public reports can help people compare hospitals, nursing homes, and ambulatory surgery centers, but each source measures something different. These guides organize the information around the care a person needs and the questions patients, residents, families, and caregivers should ask.
How the idea began
This guide has been in development over several years. In the 1990s, while working at The Joint Commission, Stephen L. Davidow developed an early series of public guides called Helping You Choose… The series addressed hospital care, ambulatory care, home care, long-term care, and managed care.
That work was grounded in a simple idea: people need understandable information and useful questions when choosing care.
Why online guides now
Today, consumers can consult Medicare Care Compare, Leapfrog, accreditation directories, state reports, and specialty sources. The results can be difficult to compare and may reflect different periods of care.
The hospital, nursing home, and ambulatory surgery center pathways organize current public information, explain limitations, and produce questions with space to record answers.
About Stephen L. Davidow
Stephen L. Davidow, MBA-HCM, LSSBB, CPHQ, is a healthcare quality and patient safety professional with extensive experience leading process improvement, organizational change, and professional education initiatives. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality, he has served as Director of Quality Improvement at the American Medical Association-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, and as a Clinical Patient Safety Officer and Senior Performance Improvement Engineer in hospital settings.
Davidow has served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, president of the Illinois Association for Healthcare Quality, and a member of technical expert panels involving the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is committed to safer, more reliable, and patient-centered healthcare through evidence-based practices, continuous improvement, and responsible use of emerging technologies.