Healthgrades Partners With Google - Provides Independent Information On Doctors And Hospitals

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 03 Mar 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Health Grades, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGRD), the leading independent healthcare ratings company, announced that it is partnering with Google to help individuals find the best healthcare providers. HealthGrades will make independent information on doctors and hospitals, based on quality and cost, accessible via Google Health - a new product that is currently being tested in a pilot with the Cleveland Clinic.

The announcement comes on the heels of a keynote address delivered today by Google Chief Executive Officer, Eric Schmidt, at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference in Orlando.

"HealthGrades' goal is to guide Americans to better healthcare," said Kerry Hicks, HealthGrades' CEO. "For researching healthcare, more Americans turn to Google to start their search than any other source, so we are proud to be providing Google users with independent, objective quality ratings and cost information so that they can choose the best possible doctor and hospital."

HealthGrades provides unique and exclusive content on the quality of virtually all of the nation's hospitals and practicing physicians. Some of this content is already appearing in Google Maps today, including expanded profiles of healthcare providers, with more content to be added in the months to come.

HealthGrades maintains cost and quality reports for 700,000 physicians, nearly every practicing physician in the country. Reports include patient-satisfaction ratings, detailed education and training information, disciplinary action information, malpractice judgments (in 15 states), board certification, affiliated hospital quality ratings, comparisons to other physicians, specialty and national averages comparisons and more.

In addition, HealthGrades independently rates the quality of care at each of the nation's nearly 5,000 nonmilitary hospitals, using star ratings to reflect patient outcomes for procedures and treatments ranging from bypass surgery to total knee replacement. HealthGrades also rates the quality of care at virtually every nursing home and home-health agency in the country.

About HealthGrades

Health Grades, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings organization, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. Millions of consumers and many of the nation's largest employers, health plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades' independent ratings, advisory services and decision-support resources to make healthcare decisions based on the quality and cost of care. More information on the company can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.

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