Hospitals in Massachusetts 'top of the line'
Hospitals in Massachusetts are outperforming hospitals nationwide when it comes to the quality of outpatient care.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released data Wednesday that showed Massachusetts hospitals perform better than average on a variety of measures, including providing fast treatment to emergency room patients with chest pain; protecting surgery patients from infections; and providing appropriate followup with women who have had routine mammograms.
The data also included information about whether hospitals overuse MRIs and other imaging tests. The agency tracked the percentage of patients with low back pain who had an MRI without trying physical therapy or other treatments first. A high number may indicate that a hospital is doing unnecessary imaging tests.