These are samples; other procedures and diseases are included on the site. Of these sampled major categories, MRMC ranked a five three-star rankings and three one-star rankings.

MRMC Chief Executive Officer Steve Mahan said he did not know enough about the methods used by HealthGrades.com to comment on specific grades, but believes more information is good for the public.

“My general attitude about all of those is that it is excellent,” he said. “For too long, consumers have not had good comparative information on health care providers. While we are in the first stages of that, and it will get better, it is a good first step. I think it’s the beginning of even greater transparency in health care.”

Mahan said he’s not worried about grading or ranking of hospitals hurting MRMC.

“As this information becomes more prevalent, I think consumers will use it more, and yes, it could start affecting health care decisions,” he said. “And that’s exactly what the point of it is. It’s to protect the consumer and to reward those who are providing high quality health care.”

Mahan said hospitals located in higher socio-economic areas where people take better care of themselves are likely to score higher.

HealthGrades.com gets its information from independent public and private sources. For hospitals, the company utilizes information management and statistical techniques to process and risk-adjust a large volume of patient level data.

According to the company’s Web site, they risk-adjust the data in order to make valid and accurate comparisons between providers, taking into account that the demographic characteristics of patients and the severity of patients’ illnesses may vary at different locations. This levels the playing field, for example, between hospitals that treat sicker patients compared to those that treat healthier patients, information on the Web site states.

Hospital ratings also use data from the most current three-year data set available from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and individual states that make the data available.

Key to the stars

The star system used by HealthGrades.com:

• One star: Poor.

• Three stars: As expected.

• Five stars: Best.