Harris Health System

Address
2525 Holly Hall
Houston, TX 77054
(map)
Phone
(713) 566-6417
Hospital type
Acute Care
Emergency services
Yes
Ownership
Government - Local

2012 Data

2013 Data

Below, you'll find essential information to help you evaluate the hospital's quality of care, such as average wait times for emergency services; clinical care measures, including rates of surgical complications and infections acquired during hospital visits; patient outcomes, including 30-day readmission and death rates; and patient ratings. To find additional Texas hospitals or compare this hospital with others, return to the search page. Some information may not be available because the hospital's sample size was too small, the hospital did not have data to report, or the results were excluded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for various reasons, including data inaccuracies or discrepancies in data collection.

Check out the Tribune's latest health care coverage here and find hospital data for more recent years at Medicare.gov.

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Average time spent in the emergency room

Average time spent in the emergency room Harris Health System Texas National
Before patients receive a diagnostic exam 114 min. 25 min. 24 min.
By patients admitted to the hospital 786 min. 273 min. 272 min.
By patients discharged and sent home 418 min. 129 min. 133 min.

These indicators show how long you could expect to wait in a selected hospital's emergency room before seeing a health care professional, being admitted to the hospital or being sent home. Hospitals report the data from medical records, and the data is audited and verified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Learn more about the data and other measures of timely and effective hospital care at Medicare.gov.

Surgical complications

Surgical complications Harris Health System
Serious surgical complications No different than the national rate
Deaths among patients with serious, treatable conditions No different than the national rate

Health care-associated infections

Health care-associated infections Harris Health System
Central-line associated bloodstream infection Better than the national benchmark
Catheter-associated urinary tract infection No different than the national benchmark
Surgical site infection from colon surgery No different than the national benchmark
Surgical site infection from abdominal hysterectomy Worse than the national benchmark

The quality of a hospital's clinical care practices can affect how often patients experience surgical complications or acquire infections. These indicators show how the hospitals' rates of surgical complications and health care-associated infections compare with national standards. The scores are risk-adjusted and account for characteristics of each hospital's patient population. The serious surgical complications score is a composite of observed-to-expected ratios for a list of common surgical complications determined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The number of health care-associated infections is measured by a standardized infection ratio, which shows the number of infections relative to a national benchmark based on data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network. Find more information on how CMS measures rates of surgical complications and health care-associated infections.

Rates of 30-day unplanned readmission

Rates of 30-day unplanned readmission Harris Health System National rate
For all patients discharged from the hospital 16.3% 15.6%
For heart attack patients N/A 17.8%
For heart failure patients 22.8% 22.7%
For pneumonia patients 17.4% 17.3%

Rates of death within 30 days of discharge

Rates of death within 30 days of discharge Harris Health System National rate
For heart attack patients 14.3% N/A
For heart failure patients 10.9% 11.9%
For pneumonia patients 11.5% 11.9%

These indicators show how often patients who are treated for serious, common conditions return to the hospital within 30 days or died. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services calculates the rates using Medicare claims submitted by hospitals and patient-eligibility information. The rates are risk-adjusted and take into account characteristics of each patient — like age, medical history, and other diseases or conditions the patient had before entering the hospital — that could make readmission or death more likely regardless of the quality of care delivered by the hospital. Learn more information on the data at Medicare.gov.

Rates of death within 30 days of discharge

Percent of patients surveyed that... Harris Health System
Gave the hospital a score of "9" or "10" on a scale from 0 (low) to 10 (high) 69%
Would definitely recommend the hospital 70%
Reported that their doctors "always" communicated well 80%
Reported that their nurses "always" communicated well 74%
Reported that they "always" received help as soon as they wanted 62%
Reported that their room and bathroom were "always" clean 64%
Reported that the area around their room was "always" quiet at night 51%

These indicators show how patients felt about their hospital experience, including how well hospital workers communicated with them and whether they would recommend the hospital. This data comes from a standardized survey created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The survey has been used since 2006 to help consumers compare the quality of care between hospitals. The surveys are taken by trained administrators at participating hospitals, analyzed and adjusted by CMS to account for differences in hospitals' patient mix and other factors. Learn more information on the data at Medicare.gov.

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About

The information in the Texas Hospitals Explorer comes from Medicare data reported by hospitals and analyzed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Some information may not be available because the hospital's sample size was too small, the hospital did not have data to report, or the results were excluded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Tribune selected the metrics shown after consulting with Medicare employees, hospital administrators, health care consultants and consumer advocates. For more information on the data, visit Hospital Compare at Medicare.gov.

Questions, suggestions or concerns? Let us know.

Updated February 2015.

By Becca Aaronson, Annie Daniel, Alex Duner, Ben Hasson, Ayan Mittra, Ryan Murphy, Emily Ramshaw, Jacob Villanueva and Marcos Vanetta.

This application was produced in partnership with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.