SUMMARY: We’re always interested in measuring quality in health care. Cost isn’t the only factor you want to consider, but it’s tough to find good quality measurements that are actionable — things you can use to make a decision.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services “recently announced it has added several hospital quality measures to its Hospital Compare website, including measures of stroke and blood clot care, HealthLeaders Media reports.
“In 2005, CMS began posting quality ratings for more than 3,000 U.S. hospitals on its Hospital Compare website. … The site first included data on adherence to basic clinical care guidelines and later expanded to include additional information, such as patient experience scores, readmission rates, mortality rates and complication rates. …
“According to CMS, the website now will track additional measures under the heading of ‘timely and effective care,’ including:
- Three new measures of blood clot prevention care;
- Eight new indicators of stroke care quality;
- Rates of C. diff and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections; and
- Rates of medically unnecessary newborn deliveries scheduled between one to three weeks early
via CMS Updates Hospital Compare Website With New Quality Measures – iHealthBeat.
Jeanne Pinder is the founder and CEO of ClearHealthCosts. She worked at The New York Times for almost 25 years as a reporter, editor and human resources executive, then volunteered for a buyout and founded ClearHealthCosts.
With Pinder at the helm, ClearHealthCosts shared honors for the top network public service journalism project in a partnership with CBS News, as well as winning numerous other journalism prizes.
She was previously a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism. ClearHealthCosts has won grants from the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York; the International Women’s Media Foundation; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with KQED public radio in San Francisco and KPCC in Los Angeles; the Lenfest Foundation in Philadelphia for a partnership with The Philadelphia Inquirer; and the New York State Health Foundation for a partnership with WNYC public radio/Gothamist in New York; and other honors.
She is one of Crain’s Notable Women in Tech. Niemanlab wrote of ClearHealthCosts that “The Internet hates secrets.”
Her TED talk about fixing health costs has surpassed 2 million views.