Hospital ratings are important. They tell potential patients which facility is most likely to provide them with the quality services they seek.

But often, when a child is sick or a parent is in pain, we simply head to the nearest hospital, without much thought to ratings or grades. But that will soon change — and has begun to change already, according to hospital officials.

King’s Daughters Medical Center was recently given a “B” from Hospital Safety Score, up from a “C” earlier this year. The hospital’s commitment to quality care is evident in the number of awards and positive grades it receives year after year.

Moving from a “C” to a “B” took a focus on patient safety that started at the top and worked its way down to doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Anyone who’s heard CEO Alvin Hoover speak about KDMC knows that the hospital’s goals are clear and that everyone employed there is working toward those goals.

The “B” rating was based on errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Hospitals are graded twice a year using publicly available data. So, in theory, any potential patient could look at the data and come to their own conclusions about a hospital. But who has time for that? That’s what makes these scores and ratings valuable. They give patients an easy-to-understand grade that will hopefully help them make better decisions.

We can all understand that a “B” or an “A” is good and an “F” or a “D” is bad. And some of us have already starting using those scores and ratings to choose medical facilities and providers. In the future, many more of us will.

Today’s teenagers and 20-somethings rely heavily on product reviews to make purchasing decisions. How long until they apply that same approach to healthcare decisions for themselves and, soon, their aging parents? KDMC recognizes this and is working to ensure it scores well on these metrics.

A couple trophy cases full of awards speaks volumes about KDMC’s commitment to excellence. We are fortunate to have such a facility here in Lincoln County, and we are certain that the hospital’s “B” will soon be an “A.”