Alaska hospital infection and safety ratings

4 Alaska hospitals were better than national on at least one infection and worse on none, led by Alaska Native Medical Center (Anchorage), Alaska Regional Hospital (Anchorage), Bartlett Regional Hospital (Juneau), Mat-Su Regional Medical Center (Palmer).

Alaska ranks #49 of 50 states on HospitalsInEachState.com's infection index (lower is better), at 1.37. Averaged across the infections with enough data, its hospitals reported about 37% more infections than U.S. hospitals overall, relative to what CMS predicts. 2 of 10 reporting hospitals (20%) were worse than national on at least one infection, compared with 5% nationwide.

A "worse" result means CMS found the hospital reported significantly more of that infection than predicted during the measurement period. It covers one type of infection over a past period and does not mean every patient is at higher risk. If you have a planned procedure, ask your doctor or the hospital what it is doing about the result and how it applies to your care. In an emergency, go to the nearest emergency room or call 911.

Only hospitals with at least one CMS infection comparison or a serious-complications result are listed. Hospitals with too few procedures or patient days, such as many small rural, critical access and specialty hospitals, often have no comparison. A missing result is not a bad sign. Every hospital still has its own page in the Alaska hospital directory.