Just under 20 ambulatory surgery centers in the metropolitan area are “high performing” facilities, according to U.S. News and World Report’s inaugural ranking released this morning.
Of the 142 facilities assessed throughout the state, 17 surgery centers excelled in a specialty service when rated for colonoscopies and endoscopies, ophthalmology care, orthopedics and spine procedures or urology. The surgery centers that earned the top categorization for colonoscopies and endoscopies include:
Carnegie Hill Endoscopy
Gramercy Park Digestive Diseases Center
Yorkville Endoscopy
The Endoscopy Center of Queens
Digestive Diseases Diagnostic & Treatment Center in Bensonhurst
Endoscopic Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Brooklyn
Gastroenterology Care in Brooklyn
Endoscopy Center of Long Island and Digestive Health Center of Huntington, both part of Northwell Health
North Shore Surgi-Center in Smithtown
Long Island Center for Digestive Health in Uniondale
One area institution, the Eye Surgery Center of Westchester in New Rochelle, excelled in ophthalmology. Five, including the Brooklyn Surgery Center in Mapleton, Island Ambulatory Surgery Center which is affiliated with Mount Sinai Brooklyn, Lynbrook Surgery Center, Melville SC and Surgicare of Manhattan in Tudor City, performed well in orthopedics and spine procedures. An additional six facilities upstate ranked as high-performing in one care area.
Just one metro area site, New Hyde Park Endoscopy, ranked as “below average” for colonoscopies and endoscopies. North Queens Surgical Center in Bayside, the Surgical Specialty Center of Westchester, Gramercy Surgery Center-New York and Syosset Surgicenter performed below average for ophthalmology procedures. Additionally, three area facilities underperformed in orthopedics and spine care, including Gramercy Surgery Center-New York, Port Jefferson ASC and Richmond Pain Management ASC on Staten Island. Gramcery Surgery Center-New York also rated below average for urology.
Ben Harder, U.S. News’ managing editor, said the media company decided to publish new rankings for ambulatory care facilities as hospitals continue to push more procedures into outpatient care settings and patients flock toward facilities with faster surgery and recovery turnaround times. The ranking is designed to give patients an idea of where to go for certain types of outpatient procedures, he said.
U.S. News analysts used data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to rate each facility for the quality of care it provides Medicare patients, which make up much of the population that receives procedures at ambulatory surgery centers, Harder said.
Analysts evaluated patients’ outcomes after procedures including colonoscopies and endoscopies, cataract surgeries with lens implants, hip and knee replacements and glaucoma surgeries. They rated each institution based on how many patients took unexpected trips to the hospital or emergency room after procedures, experienced complications after a surgery or died as a result of one, which Harder emphasized is “exceedingly rare.” The facilities that achieved statistically better-than-expected outcomes were rated as high-performing; Harder also noted that facilities with more data to analyze may be more likely to achieve a high or below average rating.
Of the more than 7,000 ratings U.S. News awarded about 5,000 sites, about 700 were high-performing, 10%. Roughly the same percentage of New York centers that were evaluated received the same designation, but Harder said the state outperformed other areas of the country in the percentage of centers that ranked well for certain specialties. More than 20% of the New York facilities evaluated for colonoscopies and endoscopies excelled, he said by way of example, “well over the national average.” Of the 13 sites assessed in Brooklyn, five – or 38% – excelled, more than double the national norm.
Harder said this success could be due to New York’s high concentration of facilities that perform just one of the specialty procedures analysts evaluated.
“There’s certainly something to be said for doctors’ practices that specialize in one area of care and that’s what they do,” he said, noting that many area hospitals that perform one type of care, such as cancer surgeries and treatments, often perform similarly well in U.S. News rankings. “They’re not trying to be everything to all patients. A lot of the high-performing ones in New York in particular are [single-specialty].”
While analysts did not factor patient volume into their rankings, Harder added that New York’s high patient volumes, particularly in the metropolitan area, help facilities excel in the work they perform.
“I’ve certainly heard, anecdotally, people will go to an ASC that is a single-specialty [center] in a densely populated community and they’ve got patients lined up in 15 or 20-minute intervals,” he said. “It’s almost like watching air traffic control bring planes into a busy airport. They’ve got everything down to a science.”
U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Jacqueline Neber , 2024-05-14 11:33:03
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