In many hospital situations, simply getting to the closest hospital as quickly as possible could be the best decision, but if you are having a baby, you might want to do your homework. Of course, if your water breaks unexpectedly, you might have to settle for the closest doctor. However, if you have time, there are a number of excellent resources available to help find a good healthcare provider (or avoid a bad one) for your big day. Here are a few of the most important resources you can use:
The Newsweek/Leapfrog Group List
The venerable magazine, Newsweek ranked 231 U.S. maternity hospitals in 36 states based on safety and quality performance. Newsweek enlisted the help of The Leapfrog Group, and its panel of national experts to set the bar for excellence in maternity care, including “achieving low rates of C-section, episiotomy and early elective deliveries, and following crucial protocols to protect mothers and babies.” The most recent ranking from 2020 includes three hospitals from Maryland and one from Washington D.C..
U.S. News & World Report
There are a lot of lists out there, especially online, but few organizations put as much work into creating a fair and unbiased list-making process as does the magazine U.S. News & World Report. You may know their highly influential list of colleges and universities. They also rank hospitals, although, unlike the Newsweek list above, it doesn’t refine them down to maternity or obstetrics. U.S. News gives its evaluation of 64 hospitals in Maryland. Find out which twelve met the U.S. News highest ranking standards, and which one made number one.
Yelp.com
You might not think of checking with the website Yelp unless you’re trying to pick a restaurant, but Yelp covers just about any business that people have an opinion on. Keep in mind that people who have a good experience are less likely to go to Yelp than people who had a less than satisfactory experience, so it skews a bit on the negative side.
Medicare Compare
Medicare Compare has a database of doctors and hospitals with their own star ratings. You can look up hospitals and compare them to one another with this government website. You can see their star ranking (one to five) and click on that ranking to get a breakdown of what they do well compared to the national average and where they need improvement.
The Maryland Board of Physicians
If you have an idea of who your doctor is going to be, and you want to make sure he or she has a good track record, you can search by physician for license information & disciplinary action. The Maryland Board of Physicians has a search engine where you can look up a particular health care professional (doctors, physician assistants, therapists, technologists, practitioners, trainers, etc.) by name to check on their license or to conduct research for previous medical malpractice complaints on the public record. The absence of a complaint does not necessarily mean that the professional in question has had no complaints. For health care providers in Maryland, click here. For health care providers in Washington DC, click here.
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