Posted by: stantheman817 on: December 15, 2009
Leapfrog Group names 45 acute-care hospitals to its fourth annual list
“The Leapfrog Group has named 45 acute-care hospitals—including 34 urban hospitals, eight children’s hospitals and three rural hospitals—to its fourth annual “Top Hospitals” list, which is intended to celebrate hospitals that meet the group’s patient safety, care quality and efficiency standards, Crain’s Detroit Business reports. To be honored, hospitals were required to complete the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which is based on safety practices identified by national organizations such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Quality Forum. In addition, participating hospitals had to demonstrate that they had met Leapfrog standards across five critical areas, including a new efficiency standard.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: December 10, 2009
Portal shows the best place to get medical care
“Last month, the Illinois state Department of Public Health released a new website to examine how hospitals stack up against one another. The Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide has been so popular, it crashed the first day after getting 11,000 hits, said Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.
Arnold said two of the most popular uses so far is to compare statistics for specific regarding specific surgical procedures, and to compare different hospitals when deciding on health insurance plans.”
The website: www.healthcarereportcard.illinois.gov
Posted by: stantheman817 on: December 5, 2009
Web site helps families make care choice
“A new Web site from the nonprofit California HealthCare Foundation at CalQualityCare.org rates thousands of the state’s long-term care providers and has a tool to help consumers focus on the best options for their needs.
The free online service CalQualityCare.org rates the care provided by nursing homes, hospice programs and home-health agencies, where data is available to evaluate performance.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: December 5, 2009
Leapfrog Group releases 2009 rankings
“The Leapfrog Group has announced its 2009 list of top hospitals, a group that includes 34 urban facilities, eight children’s hospitals and, in a new category this year, three rural hospitals. The ratings are an interesting contrast from those provided by public policy organizations, the federal government or other quality groups, as they’re backed by a group composed of large employers.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: November 21, 2009
Report finds increased reliance on home-based services and continued quality challenges
“The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) today unveiled a new Web site rating thousands of the state’s long term care providers on a wide range of quality of care measures — information that will help consumers make better choices and focus providers on improving quality.
The free online service, CalQualityCare.org, rates the care provided by nursing homes, hospice programs, and home health agencies, where data is available to evaluate performance. The site also provides information on many other kinds of long term care, such as assisted living, retirement communities, and day care. CalQualityCare features an easy-to-use “Long Term Care Assistant” tool that helps consumers choose among care options by posing ten simple questions.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: November 21, 2009
Illinois report card finally released
“Illinois was the first state to call for a Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide, passing the legislation in 2003. The report card was meant to document hospital-acquired infections and the adequacy of nursing staffs. The consumer guide was to compare hospitals’ performance on 30 leading medical procedures with wide variation in outcomes and costs. The state also called for an adverse-events report that would disclose egregious hospital errors, such as patients who have surgery on the wrong limb. But delays hamstrung the projects, and Illinois fell behind other states.
Finally, the report card and consumer guide are a reality, albeit in a slightly diminished form. To start, the consumer guide is reporting on only 11 conditions, instead of the 30 originally called for. More data will be added in the months ahead, said Mary Driscoll, who’s overseeing the project for the Illinois Department of Public Health.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: November 21, 2009
National Quality Forum (NQF) has releases new data sets
“The National Quality Forum (NQF) has released new data sets that identify the specific care quality measures that health information technology (IT) should be able to capture in all health care settings, Government Health IT reports. Designed to simplify the process of comparing health care providers’ care quality performance reports, the Quality Data Sets establish a common language to describe the information within quality measures. Specifically, the framework provides standard elements or a code list for a specific condition, quality data elements or information describing the context of use, and data flow attributes or the care setting providing the information.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: November 21, 2009
new report from Press Ganey Associates
“A new report from Press Ganey Associates suggests that, despite the ailing economy, hospital-reported patient satisfaction scores reached record levels in October 2008, AHA News Now reports. Based on an analysis of patient satisfaction surveys completed by nearly 3 million patients treated at 2,021 U.S. hospitals between January and December 2008, the report found that a six-year trend toward higher patient satisfaction in the inpatient setting continued last year, suggesting that facilities “have responded to payer and patient demands,” according to the firm.
According to the report, providers’ focus on patient satisfaction “has really changed” since March 2008 when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began publicly reporting Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey data.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: November 21, 2009
annual New Jersey Hospital Performance Report replaced
“New Jersey health officials have published a report detailing the safety performance and incidence of medical errors for individual hospitals throughout the state, WCBSTV reports. Previously, the state Department of Health and Senior Services used the annual New Jersey Hospital Performance Report to publish aggregate error data from hospitals in the state. However, under legislation signed into law by Gov. Jon Corzine (D), the state is now required to make information on medical errors, such as wrong site surgeries or leaving an instrument in a patient, available to the public. The data is available in a searchable format on the department’s Web site.”
Posted by: stantheman817 on: November 16, 2009
Article from The Wisconsin State Journal
“A major new database of patient information was formed by insurers, employers and health-care providers in Wisconsin.
The database, which reveals how the cost of care, adherence to proper screening and other factors vary by region and doctor group, will encourage physicians to reduce waste and give patients the best care, organizers say. The project, under development for four years, will allow employers and eventually consumers to choose doctors with the best scores.”
