About Health Transparency - Health care transparency, value-driven health care, and public health care report card news

AHRQ's 2008 State Snapshots shows variance in states performance in providing quality healthcare

Martina Dolan — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 10:53:09 -0400

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) annual release of State-by-State quality data continues to give States mixed reviews for the quality of care they provide. As in previous years, AHRQ's 2008 State Snapshots show that no State does well or poorly on all quality measures.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also releasing State-by-State reports on the health care status quo. The reports are available at http://www.HealthReform.gov.

The 2008 State Snapshots provide State-specific health care quality information, including strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. The State-level information used to create the State Snapshots is drawn from the 2008 National Healthcare Quality Report, which was released in May.

AHRQ's annual State Snapshots are based on data drawn from more than 30 sources, including government surveys, health care facilities and health care organizations. To access this year's State Snapshots tool, go to: http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/snaps08/index.jsp.

Hospital Care for Heart Attack, Heart Failure Patients Varies Across Nation

Martina Dolan — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 09:48:44 -0400

The 30-day mortality (death) and readmission rates for acute care of heart attack and heart failure patients vary significantly from hospital to hospital across the nation, according to a new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Researchers analyzed findings from the 2009 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 30-day outcomes report for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and heart failure, part of the CMS Hospital Compare quality initiative.

Researchers reviewed three years of experience (July 2005 to June 2008) of Medicare fee-for-service patients with heart failure and heart attack. Calculating 30-day death and readmission rates, based on nearly 600,000 heart attack admissions and more than 1 million heart failure admissions at almost 5,000 hospitals nationwide, they found:

The average 30-day death rate for heart attack was 16.6 percent and the average rate of heart attack readmission was 19.9 percent.
The average 30-day death rate for heart failure was 11.1 percent and 24.4 percent for readmission.

NQF approves criteria, new composite measures

Martina Dolan — Wed, 8 Jul 2009 09:42:06 -0400

The National Quality Forum approved criteria that it will use when evaluating composite measures and at the same time endorsed new composite measures for adult and pediatric patient safety and mortality for selected conditions, writes Modern Healthcare.

Composite measures combine individual quality measures that are scored as a bundle. Until now, the NQF mainly has endorsed individual measures, but composite measures also are beneficial to providers and consumers seeking information about healthcare, according to an NQF news release. In addition to meeting NQF’s standard endorsement criteria, composite measures will be evaluated on the need to standardize scores, whether the components within the bundled measure should be weighed differently and whether the scoring method is appropriate.

CMS to Post New Data on Hospital Compare Web Site

Martina Dolan — Tue, 7 Jul 2009 08:44:59 -0400

The anticipated refresh of data to CMS Hospital Compare is July 9th. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is expected to post publicly for the first time on the Hospital Compare Web site, information regarding 30-day readmission rates for Medicare patients experiencing heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia. The information will be described similarly to the current 30-day mortality data displays on the Web site as “expected,” “better than expected” and “worse than expected,” and each hospital’s readmission rates for these three specific conditions will be compared to their state average readmission rate, and the U.S. national readmission rate.

Current 30-day mortality information for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia patients will be updated to reflect a change to the methodology for calculating those rates.

New York Hospitals Have Lower Rates of Surgical-Site Infections

Martina Dolan — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:17:24 -0400

New York hospitals have lower rates of surgical-site infections than the rest of the nation but the same or higher rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in intensive care units than those reported nationally, the New York State Health Department (DOH) announced today in its second annual Hospital-Acquired Infections, New York State 2008 Report.

For the first time, the report presents 2008 hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates identified by hospital name and New York region for surgical site infections (colon, coronary artery bypass graft, and hip replacement) and central-line associated blood stream infections in adult, pediatric, and neonatal intensive care units (ICUs).

New York is the first state to utilize the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network system for HAI reporting, using data collected in 2008 from 186 hospitals that performed the selected surgical procedures or provided intensive care. Data on hip replacement surgery was included for the first time.

Among the major findings of the report:

Colon surgical-site infection rates decreased significantly in 2008 and were lower than 2006-2007 national rates.
Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) chest infection rates for 2008 declined from a year ago and were significantly lower when compared with 2006-2007 national rates. CABG donor vessel surgical-site infection rates were identical to 2007 State rates and 2006-2007 national rates.
Hip replacement surgical-site infection rate of 1.3 percent for 2008 was not statistically different than the national rate of 1.5 percent in 2006-2007.
Central line-associated bloodstream infection rates in ICUs for 2008 were the same or higher than 2006-2007 national rates.

The full report, including hospital-specific results, is available at: http://www.nyhealth.gov/statistics/facilities/hospital/hospital_acquired_infections/.

The Niagara Health Quality Coalition to release 7th Annual New York State Hospital Report Card

Martina Dolan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:52:32 -0400

The Niagara Health Quality Coalition (NHQC) will release the seventh annual New York State Hospital Report Card on June 21st. The report provides information for all hospitals in New York State for 42 procedures and conditions including mortality rates, error rates and surgical infection rates. In addition, pain management and overall patient satisfaction with clinical care are being added this year.

The 2009 New York State Hospital Report Card will be located at www.myHealthFinder.com.

Fraser Institute releases performance data on hospitals in Alberta, Canada

Martina Dolan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:45:45 -0400

The Fraser Institute released The Hospital Report Card: Alberta 2009, which measures the performance of all 102 acute-care hospitals in Alberta across 39 indicators of in-patient quality and patient safety based on data from 2002 to 2007. However, the Alberta government does not allow the institute to name the hospitals involved.

The Fraser Institute publishes health report cards for three provinces: British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.

Maryland links billing rates to hospital performance as incentive to reduce preventable complications

Martina Dolan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:21:22 -0400

On July 1, Maryland's hospitals will receive financial incentives based on the steps taken to prevent complications, writes The Capital. The system will be based on a list of 64 preventable complications including collapsed lungs and infections of the urinary tract and in the blood, .

Hospitals will be measured on how they address these complications, which patients develop during hospitalization. After a year, state regulators will give hospitals feedback on their performance, and that outcome will impact how much each hospital can charge patients.

Texas DSHS receive funding to build Health Care Associated Infection Reporting System

Martina Dolan — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:39:57 -0400

In 2007, the Texas legislature passed a law that required the Texas Department of State Health Services to make public health care acquired infection rates for several surgical procedures and bloodstream infections in hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and children’s hospitals by no later than June 1, 2008. Hospitals were supposed to begin reporting by June 1, 2008. However, two years after the law was passed, Dallas News reports, the information is still not available because the Legislature did not fund the measure. This year, the Texas Department of State Health Services asked for $4.4 million to build the Health Care Associated Infections Reporting System - it received $2.2 million.

Vermont 2009 Hospital Comparison Report Released

Martina Dolan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:08:21 -0400

The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) released its 2009 Hospital Comparion Report, reporting on quality care, patient safety and satisfaction, nurse staff levels and costs for services. The report analyzes Vermont hospitals handling of heart attacks, heart failures, pneumonia and surgery complications.

The Vermont Legislature passed a hospital accountability act in 2003 that requires hospitals publish annual reports containing information about quality, hospital infection rates and prevention measures, patient safety, nursing staffing levels, financial health, costs for services, and other hospital characteristics. The law also requires the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration to publish some of that same information in a comparative format on this website.

New Hampshire Hospital Quality and Cost Scorecard Released

Martina Dolan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:59:29 -0400

The NH Purchasers Group on Health released the New Hampshire Hospital Scorecard (www.nhpghscorecard.org), based on data about cost, quality of care and patient satisfaction previously gathered by state and federal agencies. The NH Purchasers Group on Health comprises of four of the largest public entities in NH, purchasing healthcare for more than 120,000 members.

Patient Experience and Select Clinical Quality data is abstracted from the US Department of Health and Human Services Website. Patient Safety is abstracted from a national survey administered by The Leapfrog Group For Patient Safety . Pricing information was obtained from the New Hampshire Insurance Department.

National Quality Forum seeks comment on quality data set

Martina Dolan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:18:45 -0400

Health Data Management reports that an National Quality Forum expert panel is seeking comment on the drafting of a quality data set to support automated, standards-based gathering of data from electronic health records and other electronic sources. NQF, a not-for-profit organization of industry stakeholders, was created to implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting.

The report includes nine recommendations for further work to enhance development of and use of the quality data set and electronic data sources. These include improving communication with stakeholders, creating a measure authoring tool, hosting the quality data set in a publicly available site and setting a timeline for implementation, among other recommendations.

Public comments are due June 30 and NQF member comments are visit the National Quality Forum Website.

Pennsylvania bill prohibits reimbursement for "never events"

Martina Dolan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:17:07 -0400

Governor Edward G. Rendell signed three health care bills that were part of his Prescription for Pennsylvania health care reform plan and a fourth that was originally proposed as part of the Senate Republican package of health care bills. One bill - HB 84 - prohibits health care providers from seeking reimbursement for a serious, preventable medical error, often called "never events." In January 2008, the Department of Public Welfare implemented a policy to prohibit hospitals to bill Medicaid for 27 "never events," such as operating on the wrong patient, medication errors that result in death or disability and bad blood transfusions.

Georgiahealthinfo.gov Touts New Features To Help Georgians Make Better Health Care Decisions

Jaz-Michael King — Thu, 4 Jun 2009 17:16:42 -0400

Joye Burton sent a message using the contact form at
http://www.abouthealthtransparency.org/contact.

ATLANTA – Georgiahealthinfo.gov just made it even easier for Georgians to navigate through the myriad of health care options available to them. Newly added features such as long-term care quality comparisons, expanded provider look-up, and clinic and specialty hospitals search tools, enhance Georgians’ ability to identify long-term care options and health care providers.

"We are proud to provide Georgians with the resources to proactively take control of their health and make educated choices,” said Dr. Rhonda Medows, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). “By adding these tools, georgiahealthinfo.gov is quickly becoming the most comprehensive health information Web site available to the citizens of Georgia."

The new long-term care section features the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ five-star quality rating system, facility inspection reports and extensive information on the average cost of care for nursing home, personal care home, hospice care and in-home health care. Consumers can also download checklists to evaluate over 3,600 facilities.

In addition to searching for hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, long-term care facilities and outpatient centers, consumers can also search a provider’s licensing and board certification on the expanded provider look-up, which includes 20,000 physicians. The Web site also features other helpful tools such as tips on choosing a doctor and how to file a complaint against a provider.

DCH launched georgiahealthinfo.gov in December 2008, and since then, the site has been visited more than 161,000 times. The following organizations have partnered with DCH to educate consumers about the availability of georgiahealthinfo.gov:

• Georgia Association for Primary Health Care
• Georgia State Medical Association
• Georgia Public Library Service
• Georgia Watch
• Medical Association of Georgia
• Right from the Start Medicaid

To view and learn more, visit Georgiahealthinfo.gov

CONTACT:
Joye Burton
404-656-7994

Colorado: Physican data available online

Martina Dolan — Thu, 4 Jun 2009 09:25:48 -0400

An online database on every doctor in Colorado went live Sunday on the homepage of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, www.dora.state.co.us, writes Durango Herald News. The database includes information about doctors' education, malpractice lawsuits, criminal record and disciplinary actions, such as a loss of hospital privileges or drug-prescribing privileges. The state assembled the database after a 2007 law known as the Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act. This bill requires the Board of Medical Examiners post important information on their website about all physicians in Colorado.