Selecting A Hospital

The articles linked below will help you to review key professional standards when reviewing participating hospitals.

Verifying Hospital Accreditation
Michigan Hospital Association Report
Centers of Excellence Program

Verifying Hospital Accreditation

To ensure that our members have access to quality-based hospitals, Care Choices requires that all participating hospitals attain accreditation through the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) or the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).

Care Choices carefully evaluates the credentials of all participating hospitals at least once every three years for conformity with Care Choices participation standards.

Hospitals are required to:

• Be in good standing with State and Federal regulatory organizations (JCAHO, AOA)
• Undergo facility review (if not in good standing with State and Federal regulatory organizations)
• Implement recommendations for process improvements
• Participate in the adoption of recognized patient safety guidelines and standards

Care Choices encourages all members to become better educated about how hospitals meet accreditation standards, including what is required in the accreditation process.

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Michigan Hospital Association Report

View the report on Michigan Hospitals from the Michigan Hospital Association. This report provides consumers with performance data supplied by Michigan hospitals, including hospital mortality rates.

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Centers of Excellence Program

Health plans, employers and members alike are concerned about health conditions that involve specialized care. The top two concerns are:

• Quality—getting the best care available, and
• Cost—everyone is interested in controlling the skyrocketing costs of health care.

What most people don’t realize is that with higher quality comes lower cost: If patients have fewer complications, it’s going to cost less. This is the idea behind the Care Choices HMO Centers of Excellence program.

As part of our Centers of Excellence program, Care Choices partners with a recognized network of specialized hospitals and facilities to coordinate care at transplant facilities recognized as “excellent.” The network is used by a wide variety of health companies and is one of the most comprehensive national networks. In selecting this network, Care Choices recognizes facilities that are evaluated based on a variety of health outcomes, including volumes of procedures and complication rates.

For more information on the Care Choices Centers of Excellence program, call Customer Service at (800) 852-9780.

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