Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center among the first-ever awardees in the National Awards Program to Recognize Progress in Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections CDC: Hospitals continue progress in preventing infections American Heart Association: Improvements in Door-to-Balloon Time in the US - 2005 to 2010 Thomson Reuters Top 10 Health Systems of 2011 UMass Memorial Diabetes Scorecard Cooley Dickinson Hospital: Better-than-National Infection Rate Drops Further Following UV Room Disinfection Mercy Medical Center, Implements a Program to Decrease Pressure Ulcers Lawrence General Hospital: Runner Up: Med/surg unit boosts safety and satisfaction with initiative care MetroWest Medical Center Demystifies Outpatient Satisfaction Partners Study on Falls Featured in JAMA Winchester Hospital: A Focus on Outcomes Southcoast Health System: Reducing the Use of Safety Sitters Partners: Coordinating Care for High-Risk Patients New Bedford Rehab's use of volumetric capnography Winchester Hospital -- Reducing IV-associated bloodstream infection Newton-Wellesley Hospital: eMAP Rx for Medication Errors? Reducing Surgical Site Infections at New England Baptist Hospital Milton Hospital Reduces Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Positive Culture Led to Pressure Ulcer Improvements Beverly Hospital Implements Nurse-Led Program to Reduce Patient Falls Boston Medical Center Nurses Teach Pressure Ulcer Prevention Two Hospitals are Co-Winners of Betsy Lehman Patient Safety Award Making Strides at Jordan Hospital to Reduce Falls Telling Your Hospital's Story Public Reporting of Serious Reportable Events Winchester Hospital's Hand-Hygiene Competency

For Patients & Families

PatientCareLink is more than data; it's about providing useful information to patients and their families. We hope that you will use this information to understand your hospital care and your care team, to learn more about what your hospital is doing to improve care, and how you can participate in making your care safer.
For Patients & Families

What is PatientCareLink?

If you've ever seen a doctor or nurse practitioner, gone to the hospital or gotten a vaccination, you are a "patient" or a "healthcare consumer." More and more healthcare consumers are looking for detailed, valid and useful information about the care they seek and about the institutions providing that care. Some patients use the information to make decisions about where to obtain their healthcare.

Gathering and reporting healthcare quality information is also important to hospitals and other healthcare providers because it can help them improve the care they deliver. And openness about performance provides extra motivation to improve.

Hospitals undergo numerous regulatory reviews and publicly report measures on the quality of care. They partner with consumer advocacy groups and the government to make what they do accessible to the public and clear to understand. But medicine is complex, and the information relating to it is complicated and multifaceted, too. Determining what data to gather and how to use it effectively is a demanding process.

The PatientCareLink website is designed to make it easier for Massachusetts patients and providers alike to find meaningful information about the quality and levels of care individual hospitals provide, as well as facts about the work environment at healthcare facilities in the Bay State.