Hospital Compare gives the rundown on US hospital services

Hospital Compare, a new service, will give Americans the ability to compare the quality of care in nearly all of the nation’s hospitals using quality information available from the Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA).

The service provides consumers with standardized assessments of the care that nearly 4,200 hospitals across the country provide to all adult patients, based on valid and reliable measures that have been shown to reflect quality of care and should help them make more informed decisions about their health care.

CMS Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. says the service will provide stronger rewards and support for high-quality, efficient care in the nation’s hospitals, and valid, consistent measures of quality care are an important tool to help patients make sure they are getting the most for their health care dollars.

Hospital Compare is the result of a public-private collaboration of government agencies, hospitals, quality experts, purchasers, consumer groups and other health care organizations, working together to develop and implement a national strategy for hospital quality measurement and improvment of quality of care. Many hospitals have been willing to move beyond the minimum set of measures identified by the Medicare Modernization Act payment incentive provision.Hospitals can call on the expertise of Medicare’s Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) for additional assistance in further improving their quality measures.

Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, says Hospital Compare will help consumers make more informed decisions about hospital care and will give hospitals the data they need to ensure that they are providing high-quality care, and commends CMS and the Hospital Quality Alliance for using public reporting to provide information that will benefit consumers, hospitals and the nation.

Dr. McClellan says they are providing measures on 17 dimensions of quality now and are working hard to make even more comprehensive information on quality available soon. Not every beneficiary needs to pay attention to every measure, but we are developing a much stronger foundation for supporting and rewarding better quality care, he said and that is also why they are working with the HQA, the National Quality Forum and other groups to build on these measures. Together they are committed to achieving a common goal of providing the highest quality care.

Hospital Compare is available on the Internet at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov or consumers without web access can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to get the same information on hospital quality