HCA = Quality Health Care?

Not hardly. Take a look at this article here, where a brand-new $250 million dollar HCA hospital finishes 'dead-last in eight of 10 categories'.

Ouch.

Note; Saint Luke's Health System, is a faith-based, non-profit, health system.

Saint Luke's Health System, the area's second-largest hospital operator, passed a new patient-satisfaction test with flying colors, while market leader HCA Midwest Health System came away with a black eye.

A review of inpatient survey data posted March 28 on the federal government's Hospital Compare Web site revealed that two of Saint Luke's five Kansas City-area hospitals grabbed the top rankings in nine of 10 categories that recently discharged patients were surveyed on between October 2006 and June.

Four of HCA Midwest's six area hospitals, meanwhile, accounted for all 10 last-place scores, with two of them tying for last in one category.

A total of 19 metro-area hospitals participated in the first round of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which eventually will be mandatory for all U.S. adult acute-care hospitals. One of them, HCA's new $250 million Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, finished 19th -- or dead last -- in eight of the 10 categories. The Saint Luke's Cancer Institute, meanwhile, finished No. 1 in eight categories.