CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Anyone with access to a computer can now compare hospitals on dozens of care measures from the cleanliness of their rooms to whether heart attack patients receive smoking cessation advice.

For the first time ever, such data, highlighted by the death rates from heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia at hospitals across the country, is available online to the public.

The Hospital Compare Web site, unveiled last week by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, allows users to measure up hospitals, including 52 in West Virginia.

Up to three hospitals can be compared at once. For instance, data shows that 99 percent of surgery patients at Charleston Area Medical Center received antibiotics one hour before incision. That's higher than St. Francis Hospital, with 90 percent, and Thomas Memorial Hospital, 63 percent.

Hospitals voluntarily submit data from their medical records about the treatments their patients receive for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgery.

The mortality rates at most West Virginia hospitals are on par with the national average.

The national death rate from heart attack is 16.1 percent, based on patients who die within 30 days of going into the hospital. Figures for hospitals in Kanawha County hover around that average.

St. Francis Hospital posts the highest rate in the county at 17.3 percent, followed by Charleston Area Medical Center at 16.7 percent, and Thomas Memorial Hospital at 16.2 percent.

On the national scale, Lehigh Valley in Allentown, Pa., boasts the lowest heart attack death rate at 11.6 percent. Danville Regional Medical Center in Virginia holds the worst at 19.6 percent.

West Virginia University Hospitals' rating isn't far off from that end of the spectrum at 19.1 percent. The federal Department of Health and Human Services, however, says that figure is "no different than the U.S. national rate."

Health officials in the area are touting the openness of such data. Previously, hospital death rates were kept behind closed doors.

"The Hospital Compare Web site is in place to enable our community to understand the delivery of healthcare, specific to each hospital," said Paige Johnson, spokeswoman for Thomas Memorial Hospital. "Thomas is pleased that we are on target with the national average of mortality rates. This reflects our commitment and mission in providing quality healthcare to our patients."

The national mortality rate from heart failure is 11.1 percent. All three Kanawha County hospitals have rates slightly above that average but none go beyond 11.8 percent.

For pneumonia, the national mortality rate is 11.4 percent. Pneumonia death rates at Thomas and CAMC are at 11.9 and 11.7 percent, respectively. St. Francis Hospital has a lower rate at 10.5 percent.

"We're pleased to see many of the measures at St. Francis exceed state and national standards," said Mary Williams, spokeswoman at St. Francis. "We'll continue to focus on those core measures."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Anyone with access to a computer can now compare hospitals on dozens of care measures from the cleanliness of their rooms to whether heart attack patients receive smoking cessation advice.

For the first time ever, such data, highlighted by the death rates from heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia at hospitals across the country, is available online to the public.

The Hospital Compare Web site, unveiled last week by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, allows users to measure up hospitals, including 52 in West Virginia.

Up to three hospitals can be compared at once. For instance, data shows that 99 percent of surgery patients at Charleston Area Medical Center received antibiotics one hour before incision. That's higher than St. Francis Hospital, with 90 percent, and Thomas Memorial Hospital, 63 percent.

Hospitals voluntarily submit data from their medical records about the treatments their patients receive for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgery.

The mortality rates at most West Virginia hospitals are on par with the national average.

The national death rate from heart attack is 16.1 percent, based on patients who die within 30 days of going into the hospital. Figures for hospitals in Kanawha County hover around that average.

St. Francis Hospital posts the highest rate in the county at 17.3 percent, followed by Charleston Area Medical Center at 16.7 percent, and Thomas Memorial Hospital at 16.2 percent.

On the national scale, Lehigh Valley in Allentown, Pa., boasts the lowest heart attack death rate at 11.6 percent. Danville Regional Medical Center in Virginia holds the worst at 19.6 percent.

West Virginia University Hospitals' rating isn't far off from that end of the spectrum at 19.1 percent. The federal Department of Health and Human Services, however, says that figure is "no different than the U.S. national rate."

Health officials in the area are touting the openness of such data. Previously, hospital death rates were kept behind closed doors.

"The Hospital Compare Web site is in place to enable our community to understand the delivery of healthcare, specific to each hospital," said Paige Johnson, spokeswoman for Thomas Memorial Hospital. "Thomas is pleased that we are on target with the national average of mortality rates. This reflects our commitment and mission in providing quality healthcare to our patients."

The national mortality rate from heart failure is 11.1 percent. All three Kanawha County hospitals have rates slightly above that average but none go beyond 11.8 percent.

For pneumonia, the national mortality rate is 11.4 percent. Pneumonia death rates at Thomas and CAMC are at 11.9 and 11.7 percent, respectively. St. Francis Hospital has a lower rate at 10.5 percent.

"We're pleased to see many of the measures at St. Francis exceed state and national standards," said Mary Williams, spokeswoman at St. Francis. "We'll continue to focus on those core measures."

While CAMC scored above the 90 percent range on most criteria, it received a 46 percent rating for quietness of its rooms.

Nurses and doctors at CAMC and St. Francis got high marks for communicating well with their patients. Information regarding this cluster of patient satisfaction data was not provided by Thomas Memorial.

"It's a big benefit to the public and community at large," said Dale Wood, vice president of system improvement and chief quality officer at CAMC. "I'm glad the federal government has taken the initiative to make this available to the public. How else can people get a sense of how good the care is?"

But Wood cautioned to analyze the data carefully and said it could easily be misinterpreted. Aspects such as patient numbers may not fully represent the percentages.

At CAMC, 1,090 heart attack patients were surveyed on whether they were given aspirin at discharge. Ninety-nine percent of them did.

But at St. Francis, only 87 patients were included in the data yet the hospital still managed a 98 percent rating. Thomas Memorial yielded an 84 percent rating with just 64 patients.

Wood also said the comparisons to the national average are somewhat vague.

"It's not really about the average," he said. "It should be about how many patients had all of those elements taken care of -aspirin on arrival, a betablocker on discharge, etc. The Web site is not that sophisticated and it looks like most hospitals are performing at about the same rate."

Other factors not considered for the mortality rates include the fact that several heart patients are transferred to CAMC from rural hospitals, Wood said.

"We're a big referral center," he said. "Hospitals from around the state send patients to us they can't deal with. If you have a heart attack and end up at a rural hospital, they may stabilize the patient and send them to us."

Wood said it's also important to acknowledge other rankings, such as U.S. News and World Report naming CAMC one of the top 50 hospitals for cardiology and cardiac surgery.

"Overall, it's important holding hospitals and physicians accountable for good, quality care," Wood said about Hospital Compare.

On the Web: www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

Contact writer Jake Stump at jakest...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4842.