Why are area hospitals rated low in patient safety?

Many thanks for your excellent article "Improving the Culture of Safety" about efforts to ensure patient safety at the University of Michigan Hospitals and St. Joe's. It is especially welcome news to me because I will have hip replacement surgery soon at U of M.

However, I have also read some disturbing reports recently.

For example, while U of M's Orthopedics Department is rated 24th in the whole country in the current U.S, News and World Reports' Hospital Report Card and it scored Better Than Expected, High, or Highest in most categories, it is rated “Lowest” on Patient Safety.

This pattern is repeated in every major specialty at U of M that was evaluated - -heart, cancer, pulmonology, gynecology, etc. -- each received overall good to excellent ratings, but consistently scored “Lowest” on Patient Safety.

Also HealthGrades.com gave U of M Hospitals a “Poor” rating for major complications after total hip replacement surgery.

I and many others would benefit from a follow-up article detailing the specifics of these low scores and what kind of situations, lapses, or errors contributed to them. It would be most helpful to know what steps patients or our advocates could take to protect our safety in the hospital.

Benita Kaimowitz Ann Arbor