The HealthGrades researchers collected data on nearly 5,000 hospitals between 2001 and 2003. In particular, they found that complication and death rates were “significantly lower” at the top hospitals after a heart bypass, heart attack, pneumonia or stroke, compared to the rest of the hospitals in the study. For instance, a heart bypass patient at one of the top hospitals had a 15 percent better chance of survival than a patient who received a bypass at an average hospital.

For many procedures, the chances of survival were 12 percent to 20 percent better in these top five percent hospitals, despite the fact that they treated more and sicker patients, the HealthGrades team found.

“Because of the variation in quality from one hospital to the next, which HealthGrades has been documenting for eight years now, patients need to do their research before choosing a local hospital,” Samantha Collier, M.D., HealthGrades' vice president of medical affairs says.

Based on population numbers from the 2000 U.S. Census, the Great Lakes region has the highest concentration of top hospitals per capita, while the West Coast has the lowest concentration, according to the report.

The HealthGrades authors note that Medicare, Medicaid and most private health insurers do not offer financial incentives to hospitals with a record of quality care, a system they say “flies in the face of market economics in other sectors, including those contracted by the federal government.”

“A consumer would not pay the same for a Mercedes S-Class Sedan and a used Ford Focus because the quality difference is obvious,” the report authors write. “In healthcare, these ‘products’ cost the same, thereby eliminating the financial rewards for quality providers and exacerbating the quality improvement problem.”

To download a PDF copy of the complete report, go here.