According to reports from the Daily Progress and other sources, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) is making the safety of area hospitals more transparent. With a program called the Quality and Patient Safety Scorecard, the VHHA and its member facilities are giving the public a lot of information on patient safety and outcomes.
Under the program, information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services and other sources gets placed onto a scorecard where consumers can check on how various hospitals are doing and what it’s like to get care and treatment there. Programs like these mean people don’t just have to go by word of mouth – they can assess hospitals and facilities based on factual data.
Charlottesville hospitals ranked pretty well, with UVA and Martha Jefferson in the lower half of the curve with respect to hospital mortality rates from various major conditions.
While officials are now driving for much more transparency and openness about hospital facilities and their operations, this kind of reform doesn’t translate to all of the other types of businesses that operate around the Charlottesville and central Virginia area. It would be nice if this sort of consumer advocacy were in place across the board, but reforms are largely limited to individual initiatives proposed by various consumer groups and government agencies.
The status quo seems to be geared toward less sharing of information, and that can make it harder for local residents to figure out their rights and responsibilities in a local economy.
These types of statistics also tie into public safety outcomes — something that is so rarely studied in a thorough and fundamental way. Personal injury lawyers understand how many of the accidents and injuries that happen in a community go on ‘under the radar’ and happen, in part, because various types of safety precautions and initiatives fell through the cracks.
Such legal professionals understand this because they routinely fight for people who are hurt because of someone else’s mistakes. They have experience representing injury victims and making sure that their clients get fair and equable treatment in court, and they ensure that public officials and others pay attention to the dangers present in local communities.
After he or she is retained by clients, an injury lawyer’s job is to help build the case with proper legal research. They also consult clients on their legal rights and responsibilities by, for instance, giving advice on timely and impartial medical evaluations and helping injury victims really assess settlement offers from an informed standpoint. All of this goes into the particular work that these legal teams do to make sure injury victims and their families get fair treatment under the law.
By Your Side: Get Quality Help From a Local Virginia Injury Law Firm
Residents who are injured in Charlottesville, Virginia can contact the law offices of MartinWren, P.C. Our caring and experienced attorneys and staff help injury victims and their families to evaluate a personal injury or wrongful death case in the Central VA area. Let us help you seek justice under the law.
Call 434-817-3100 or complete a Case Evaluation form
