The new data provide to the public and hospitals information on how often a Medicare patient with one of the three conditions returns to a hospital within 30 days of being discharged. The readmission rates are being added to information already available on how often hospitals take the right steps to provide care for these patients, as well as updated information on mortality rates.
The issue of hospital readmissions has been cited by the policymakers and the Administration as a potential opportunity for improving health care quality and reducing unnecessary health care spending. Until now, hospitals have had only information on those patients who return to their own hospital, but not about patients who were readmitted to a different hospital. The information on Hospital Compare shows how often a Medicare patient with one of these conditions returns to the same hospital or a different hospital within 30 days following their initial stay.
Hospitals are placed in one of three categories based on their readmission rate in relation to a national readmission rate – "no different than the U.S. national rate," "better than the U.S. national rate" or "worse than the U.S. national rate" – to provide results that are clear and understandable to patients and consumers. Each hospital's readmission rates for the specific condition also can be compared to its state's average. Additionally, each rate is shown as a single number, along with a confidence interval that indicates the range of certainty in which the hospital's true performance falls.
The methodology used to calculate the readmission rates uses Medicare billing records from July 2005 to June 2008. The information being made available today on Hospital Compare represents an important starting point from which providers can learn and take additional steps in their efforts to reduce readmissions.
Hospitals, other health care providers and community organizations can work together to understand the readmission rate information and investigate factors that may contribute to hospital readmissions, such as the availability of primary and hospice care in the community or transportation challenges patients might face in getting to follow-up appointments. The new update joins a growing collection of clinical care information on the Hospital Compare Web site – the product of the collaboration of public and private sector organizations known as HQA. HQA members work together to improve the quality of care provided by the nation's hospitals by measuring and publicly reporting information about hospital care. A key goal of the HQA is to collect and report data on a robust set of standardized and easy-to-understand hospital quality measures. The HQA is continuing its efforts to identify the most meaningful information to include on the Hospital Compare Web site in the future to help inform patient and clinical decision making.
The HQA will continue to put forward National Quality Forum-endorsed measures that will expand the range of information that assess the care provided to patients suffering from common conditions that are the primary causes of hospitalization. More than 4,000 hospitals – including virtually all acute-care hospitals – have voluntarily submitted quality information to share with the public through the Web site.
Source: Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA)
Vital New Quality Data on Hospital Readmission Rates Available onOriginally from: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NursezonecomNursingNews/~3/7iZWR4NduQw/Vital-New-Quality-Data-on-Hospital-Readmission-Rates-Available-on_31856.aspx
View this post on my blog: http://travelnursesuccess.com/vital-new-quality-data-on-hospital-readmission-rates-available-on
No comments:
Post a Comment