Photo courtesy: SF City Attorney
(KRON) – On Tuesday, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu confirmed that US News and World Report (USNWR) practiced problematic methodologies behind its “Best Hospitals” rankings. The company also accepted payments to add a hospital to the list, said U.S. District Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey.
US News’ “Best Hospital” rankings cover “rare or life-threatening conditions that need a hospital that excels in treating complex, high-risk cases,” evaluating “thousands of hospitals in 15 specialties and 21 procedures.” .
In June 2023, Chiu wrote a letter to US News claiming that the methodology behind its “Best Hospitals” story raised several questions regarding the reliability of its rankings.
Among the complaints, the city attorney believes U.S. News “failed to give weight to financial considerations” in determining and publishing its ratings and may have violated a California Business and Professions Code.
METHODOLOGY:
Chiu believes that having the best “overall” rating for a hospital can be problematic because of the wide variety of services a hospital can provide and the fact that many services are simply less common to perform than others.
“The USNWR ratings award children’s hospitals significantly more points for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (“CF”) than sickle cell disease (“SCD”) when the former disproportionately affects white children, and the latter disproportionately affects white children. African-Americans,” Chiu said.
Chiu says this could also start to distort the funding hospitals receive. These specialized hospitals could receive more monopoly funding because of their popularity, but that also takes attention away from community hospitals and the safety net at a time when 20% of California hospitals are at risk of closing, Chiu said.
FINANCING:
Chiu also believes that US News is violating FTC regulations because it does not disclose the payments it receives from the hospitals where it operates. He believes they did it in three different ways:
- Through fees to license “Best Hospital” badges.
- Through a hospital’s financial subscription to access your data.
- Through payments for page advertisements.
While many hospitals refuse to state how much they pay to use the “Best Hospital” badge on their website or advertising because of a “contractual agreement,” Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas acknowledged that it paid $42,000 to use the logo for one year in 2014. .
In 2013, the Washington Post reported that licensing “best of” badges represented 15% of the company’s total revenue.
The USNWR, however, does not disclose in its rankings – or apparently anywhere else – which hospitals in its rankings have paid for badges or hospital data.
Chiu believes this is especially problematic since the company’s website has a “disconcerting” disclaimer that “USNews.com does not recommend or endorse…information found on USNews.com,” USNWR said.
RESPONSE:
As a result of its problematic methodologies, this has led to law schools, medical schools, and colleges withdrawing from its rankings.
Several months after the release, Cornell University’s Weill Cornell School of Medicine withdrew from the rankings because it felt it did not “capture the breadth and depth of our educational offerings,” Cornell’s interim dean said.
In response to the City Attorney’s letter sent in June 2023, the company did not respond to questions about its methods and refused to handle the payments it receives from the hospitals it rates.
As a result, City Attorney Chiu sent two subpoenas to US News in January to obtain information necessary to determine the scope of the company’s possible violations of California consumer protection laws.
Approximately six months after Chiu’s subpoenas, US News filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that he was violating the company’s First Amendment rights.
The city attorney’s petition asked the Court to deny U.S. News’ injunction and dismiss the lawsuit entirely.
On Tuesday, prosecutors denied US News’ request for a preliminary injunction and granted Chiu’s motion to dismiss an anti-SLAPP motion (photo below).
Chiu said US News’ allegations were illegitimate. “US News is not above the law,” Chiu added. “It is disappointing that U.S. News chose to waste legal resources on a sham lawsuit to avoid legitimate questions about its undisclosed financial ties to the hospitals it rates.”
U.S. News was ordered to pay Chiu fees and costs incurred in connection with the anti-SLAPP motion, prosecutors said.
