Mayo Clinic CEO advocates fixing metrics

Often times, when medical providers weigh in about quality metrics in medicine, they complain that the metrics are generally invalid and shouldn't be used. Those responses tend to be less helpful since patients think that selecting a provider can have a meaningful impact on outcomes and that there must be a way of comparing providers. Simply asking patients to select providers based on advertising or reputation seems to ring hollow. The CEO of Mayo Clinic, Dr. John Noseworthy, wrote an editorial expressing specific criticisms around the current methods of rating hospitals regarding patient attribution and categorization. Rather than broadly dismissing quality metrics, Dr. Noseworthy identifies two areas that can be improved, allowing the discussion to move forward.

As Dr. Noseworthy pointed out, Mayo Clinic was among the small number of hospitals to receive a five-star rating from CMS. It would have been easy for Mayo to simply ride its reputation and current rating, so it's commendable that they are taking this public stance to improve industry metrics.