Cincinnati hospitals publish quality data

It's time for yet another consumer-driven healthcare effort to toot its horn. Starting in early 2007, Cincinnati residents will have access to quality data on 20 metro area hospitals, trade groups announced. The hospitals are participating voluntarily in the effort, which is backed by the Ohio Hospital Association and the Greater Cincinnati Health Council. The GCHC will provide the data through its website [1], which already offers reports comparing Cincinnati provider performance generally with performance across the state.

The new project's quality reports will provide risk-adjusted outcomes for nine conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, pneumonia, coronary artery bypass graft, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, major joint replacement, laminectomy, stroke and gastrointestinal hemorrhage. They also track how well the hospitals adhere to JCAHO guidelines when they treat acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and congestive heart failure. In its initial announcement, the groups said that the 20 hospitals followed AMI guidelines on five of eight key indicators more than than 90 percent of the time. In taking this step, the groups are part of a rapidly growing trend, with hospital associations, governments and stakeholder groups across the U.S. publishing quality and pricing data [2].

Find out more about the quality effort:
- read this article [3] in the Cincinnati Business Courier
- read the GCHC's summary report [4] (.pdf)

Related Articles:
Interview: Price, quality and the Amish. Report [5]
CMS rolls out quality improvement program. Report [6]
ACP publishes quality measurement tools. Report [7]