Hospital Navigator: Advocacy, History & How To
Hospital Navigator is Conquering CHD’s newest resource for patients and families, and launched on August 5th, 2020.
Advocacy
Hospital Navigator works for all patients and families when all centers participate. And we need YOU to make it happen! Advocating for your center to join Hospital Navigator is as easy as 1-2-3:
1) Check the status of your center here.
2) If your center participates, thank them!
3) If your center does not participate, use the Patient and Family Toolkit and talk to your care team.
Resources specifically for providers are also available:
- Frequently Asked Questions
- List of Participating Centers
- Invitation to Participate
- Data Submission Form
History
When you or your family member has congenital heart disease, it can feel like there are so many decisions to make, especially when faced with surgery or another medical procedure.
One key decision you will have to make is where you receive care. More and more information about hospitals is now available for the public to review, however, understanding this information can be challenging.
For six years, through our Summit on Transparency and Public Reporting Series, patients, families, and providers have worked collaboratively with Conquering CHD on a solution to understanding surgical data.
Hospital Navigator is a giant step towards helping patients and families understand surgical outcomes and have necessary conversations with their care team. It takes existing data and presents it to patients and families in ways they can understand and are useful in care team conversations. Hospital Navigator is just one tool in the decision-making puzzle and patients and families should fully review the educational material prior to accessing.
How to Use Hospital Navigator
What Hospital Navigator Does Not Do
The information on Hospital Navigator does not give enough detail to understand what it means for your exact congenital heart defect or procedure. It does not cover every scenario and does not always account for variations in surgical procedures, a patient’s CHD diagnosis, or a patient’s additional diagnoses. Click here for more information about the limitations of these data.
This site was not designed for you to directly compare one hospital to another.
The information on this site is not from today. Most of the information is collected once a year and some numbers may include data that was collected up to four years ago. Pay close attention to dates on Hospital Navigator. Important changes may also happen at a hospital during the time periods indicated that should be taken into consideration.
Understanding the Numbers
Understanding congenital heart surgery information that is available to the public can be very complicated, even for people who work with these numbers all the time. We realize you may find that some of this information is difficult to understand. However, it is important information and we encourage you to discuss it with your medical team. The following resources may be helpful:
Words to Know: Heart Glossary
Making Sense of Congenital Heart Surgery Data
What’s Next?
Save this information. Print it out. Take it with you when you talk to your care team. Review the toolkits below. Use Hospital Navigator in combination with our Questions to Ask Your Care Team tool. Advocate for your center to share their data!
Now that you’re ready…check out Hospital Navigator here!