|
Important new information about the quality of care available in America’s outpatient and emergency departments, including how well hospitals care for patients with heart attacks and protect outpatients from surgical infections has been added to the new HHS website, HealthCare.gov.
The information can be found as part of the “Compare Care Quality” link on the front page of the new site, http://www.healthcare.gov/compare/index.html. It can also be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Hospital Compare website, www.hospitalcompare.gov.
“The more information consumers and patients have, the better the options and choices are for them when it comes to their health care,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “HealthCare.gov is designed to put the power of information at the fingertips of Americans and our quality compare tools are a critical part of this new website.
“This new update to CMS’ Hospital Compare feature will help patients and their families better compare quality at America’s hospitals,” she said. “And thanks to this new update this year, for the first time, Medicare patients can see how efficiently facilities use certain types of imaging equipment and keep them safe from exposure to potentially harmful radiation that may not be necessary.”
On average, one in three Medicare beneficiaries receives magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of their lower back when they complain of pain, rather than trying more recommended – and potentially safer – treatment first, such as physical therapy. While most practitioners use imaging technology, such as MRI, safely and effectively to diagnose or treat disease, studies show that overusing MRIs for lower back pain could cause patients unnecessary stress, risk, and cost. In other cases, such as computed tomography (CT) scans, imaging technology exposes patients to the radiation used to produce these images, which means that overuse could harm patients’ health. The data published on Hospital Compare for these new imaging measures are based on claims for Medicare patients only.
The updated information on HealthCare.gov’s Hospital Compare includes data on the rates of outpatient MRIs for low back pain, outpatient re-tests after a screening mammogram, as well as two ratios that explain how frequently outpatient departments gave patients “double” computed tomography (CT) scans when a single scan may be all that is needed. Hospital Compare also includes new measures that show whether outpatients who are treated for suspected heart attacks receive proven therapies that reduce mortality such as an aspirin at arrival, and how well outpatient surgical patients are protected from infection. Previously, Hospital Compare had provided data only about the quality of care provided to hospital inpatients.
“Adding outpatient quality measures to Hospital Compare will give consumers a more complete picture of the quality of care available at local hospitals,” said Barry M. Straube, M.D., CMS chief medical officer and director of the Agency’s Office of Clinical Standards & Quality. “In particular, the heart attack and surgical care outpatient measures can be viewed alongside of the inpatient data we already report for these conditions, thus providing a comprehensive look at what facilities in your area are doing to provide high-quality, high-value care.”
Hospital Compare also includes 10 measures that capture patient satisfaction with hospital care. After two years of reporting these satisfaction measures, hospitals have shown modest but meaningful improvement on most satisfaction measures. The degree of this improvement has been relatively uniform across most measures and hospitals. The site also features information about the volume of certain hospital procedures performed and conditions treated for Medicare patients and what Medicare pays for those services.
The information contained on HealthCare.gov and Hospital Compare is available for consumers to use in making health care decisions. However, consumers should gather information from multiple sources when choosing a hospital. For example, patients and caregivers could use the website to help them discuss plans of care with their trusted health care providers. In an emergency situation, patients should always go to the nearest, most easily accessible facility.
 |
Health 
Subscribe to this comment's feed