PA puts hospital quality data online

A Pennsylvania group has launched a new website offering quality reports that compare hospital performance and outcomes for the state. On the site, which includes data from all 162 primary acute care hospitals in the state, users can look up which hospitals have the best record in relation to certain conditions like heart attacks, heart failure or rates of hospital-acquired infections. Users can compare hospitals to each other, as well as to state and national averages for quality of care. They also can search for individual hospitals by ZIP code, county or name. The hospital data, which is being published by the Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance, comes from CMS, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council and the Joint Commission. This makes Pennsylvania one of less than a dozen states to offer such comparative information.

To learn more about this effort:
- visit its site [1]
- read this Associated Press article [2]

Related Articles:
RI hospital records posted online. Report [3]
NC health insurer posts cost data online. Report [4]
MN group posts hospital prices to Web. Report [5]
Licking Memorial Hospital in Newark, Ohio to has been voluntarily reporting quality data on twelve areas since 2000. Report [6]