CA groups release hospital report card

A California hospital group has launched a website offering a quality report card on more than 200 hospitals across the state. The site, which is published by the California Hospital Assessment and Reporting Task Force (CHART) and the California HealthCare Foundation, rates hospitals on 50 performance indicators. These include not only risk-adjusted clinical measures of performance on such conditions as heart disease, maternity and pneumonia, but also patient satisfaction ratings. The satisfaction ratings include 27 measures used by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.

CHART was founded in 2004 to develop a statewide hospital performance system, and its members include hospitals, health plans, doctors and nurses in addition to consumer groups and employers. Such broad health industry participation should deflect the usual criticism that dogs such efforts--that the measures aren't defined correctly or don't take provider processes into account.

To get more information on the report card effort:
- read this California HealthCare Foundation press release
- get an overview of CHART's research process
- check out a table comparing this report card effort with others (.pdf)

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