Departments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 27, 2008
Contact: Nancy Strassel
(513) 531-0200

NEW WEBSITE ALLOWS USERS QUICK AND EASY ACCESS TO
LOCAL HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE DATA
Quality Improvement Effort Resulting in Better Patient Outcomes Across the
Area for Heart Attack and Heart Failure

Residents of the Tristate now have a new website, www.gchchospitalquality.org to find out how area hospitals compare on performance measures related to heart attack, congestive heart failure and pneumonia, three common conditions for hospitalization.

“The website demonstrates the commitment area hospitals have to public transparency and accountability,” said Colleen O’Toole, PhD, Greater Cincinnati Health Council president. The data collection effort is part of the Hospital Quality Improvement Project, a joint quality improvement initiative of the Health Council and the Ohio Hospital Association.

“For hospitals, the goal is that they use the information on their performance to improve patient outcomes, and we are indeed showing positive results,” she said. “These trends mean lives are being saved.” Performance results for 2006 across all participating hospitals are better than in 2005 for both heart attack and congestive heart failure. Results for pneumonia were not available in 2005 so could not yet be compared.

“For consumers, the goal is that they use the information for their own education and for discussion with their physicians,” O’Toole said. The website features background information about the various measures and the rankings as well as links to related websites.

Hospitals are not required to participate in this effort, O’Toole said, but are doing so voluntarily in order to use the data to continually improve their outcomes. They do this by comparing their performance to neighboring hospitals as well as to others across the state and then by sharing information with one another to improve their processes and practices, she said. Hospitals also compare themselves to national benchmarks. Both state and national benchmarks are also on the website.

Users can search the website by hospital name to see how an individual facility compares to others in the area. For each of the twenty hospitals listed, users can find out:

  • How often hospitals follow eight recommended care guidelines for heart attack
  • How often hospitals follow four recommended care guidelines for congestive heart failure
  • How often hospitals follow nine recommended care guidelines for pneumonia
  • Average length of hospital stay for nine conditions such as heart attack, stroke and pneumonia (shorter length of stay usually indicates a more favorable outcome)
  • Mortality for the same nine conditions

The Greater Cincinnati Health Council, which works with members to improve the quality and cost-efficiency of health care in the region, developed the website on behalf of the participating hospitals. The report covers care for full year 2006. Full-year 2007 data will be posted in the fall, and the site will be updated annually thereafter.

“This is the kind of data people need to make them more informed health care decision-makers,” said Sharron DiMario, president of the Employer Health Care Alliance. "As Cincinnati area residents, we should all be pleased that our hospitals are leading the way in the state of Ohio by putting this kind of data into the hands of consumers.”

Between 2005 and 2006, the Greater Cincinnati area average improved on all measures related to heart attack and congestive heart failure. The measure with the most significant improvement over the time period was associated with congestive heart failure: local hospitals improved their performance on the percentage of patients receiving discharge instructions from 59% in 2005 to 79% in 2006.

There were also several notable improvements on the measures related to heart attack. The percentage of patients receiving ACE inhibitors at discharge increased from 78 percent to 84 percent and the percentage of patients receiving PCI (procedures that open blocked blood vessels) in less than 90 minutes improved from 37 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2006.

The indicators focus on some of the most common and costly conditions that hospitals treat. The hospitals are rated on care guidelines that are widely accepted across the country as best practices by such organizations as the Joint Commission, a national organization that accredits hospitals, and the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program/American Osteopathic Association.

“This report is not about individual numbers,” said Robert Graham, MD, Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, medical consultant to the project. “It’s really about what hospitals do with the data. The purpose of the quality improvement project is not to single out any hospital as ‘’best’ or ‘worst.’ It is about working together to make continual changes that improve care. As hospitals learn from one another and implement changes, the idea is that all provide better and better care for patients. Collaboration is a cornerstone of this effort.”

“This effort not only sets the bar higher for each participating hospital. It raises the bar for the entire community,” O’Toole said.