According to an article in a recent edition of “Fierce Healthcare,” a new study has found that reported mortality rates used for hospital rankings are statistically imprecise with limited measures to compare quality of patient care.

The article reported that “researchers who studied 42 children’s hospitals had found that rankings are not as accurate as people might believe.”

“Reuters Health” reported that “half of the confidence intervals overlapped at least 22 of the 42 possible ranking positions, meaning that if a hospital ranked number 15 on a list, it could have just as easily been named number 37.”

The highly popular “Best Hospitals” featured in “In “U.S. News & World Report,” which is often cited by healthcare experts, uses a slew of factors to determine America’s leading healthcare facilities.

Mortality rate, quality care, physician services, and nursing services top the list of crucial criteria. Believe it or not, 32.5 percent of the score is based on hospitals’ reputations.

Dr. Chris Feudtner of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia had commented that rankings often depend on chance.

“Comparing rankings can be like randomly shuffling a stack of cards,” he said, as reported in “Reuters Health” article.