USA Today matches hospital quality data, tourism
Filed under: Health data, Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
USA Today’s Steve Sternberg and Jack Gillum put a new spin on federal Hospital Compare ratings and other hospital quality data, matching the ratings, as well as data on death rates, with popular travel destinations and the locations of state parks. The reporters make the case that travelers should keep hospital quality data in mind when planning vacations.
From the story, which also includes a list of poorly-rated hospitals in travel hotspots:
A USA Today analysis finds two dozen hospitals near popular travel destinations, as compiled by the National Travel Monitor, have death rates among the worst in the USA. A separate analysis shows that one of every four hospitals with high death rates for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia — 94 of 402 — are near state parks.
Related
AHCJ Vice President Charles Ornstein, whose own hospital quality coverage has earned national recognition, recently updated his comprehensive “Road map for covering your local hospital’s quality” tip sheet with links to state-by-state resources and additional nationwide tools for journalists looking into hospital quality.
AHCJ article: Making sense of hospital quality reports
Book: Covering the Quality of Health Care: A Resource Guide for Journalists
Slim guide: Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web
Free online training
On the Beat: Covering Hospitals: An innovative simulation guides you through the sources and resources you need to tackle the beat. You’ll tap into the same tools that you’ll use on the job, and you’ll have a virtual mentor to walk you through the maze of reports, statistics and sources. One story line teaches you about reporting on hospital quality
Data
Investigating hospitals: Find stories with ready-to-use Hospital Compare data: AHCJ has made it easier for journalists to compare hospitals in their regions by generating spreadsheet files from the HHS database, allowing members to compare more than a few hospitals at a time, using spreadsheet or database software. AHCJ provides key documentation and explanatory material to help you understand the data possibilities and limits.
Tip sheets
- How to cover your local hospital - Overview of many organizations that offer hospital quality ratings
- Sorting out hospital rankings
- Intro to investigating health data using spreadsheets
- Computer-assisted reporting basics: Investigating health data using spreadsheets
Reports
- Study: Hospital quality comparisons are inconsistent
- Performance data may not affect patient decisions
- GAO report on reliability of hospital quality data reported to CMS
- 2007 state quality data available
- Hospital quality resources by state
Hot Health Headlines
- Rating Hospital Heart Care
- Government releases new hospital death rates
- Mortality data and its use in quality improvement efforts
- Surgery death rates going public in U.K.
- Ranking Hospitals on Bang for the Buck
Poor, rural hospitals have higher death rates
Filed under: Health data, Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
USA Today’s Steve Sternberg and Jack Gillum expanded upon a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report showing higher death rates at the nation’s worst hospitals, adding their own analysis showing that death rates are also higher at hospitals in low-income and low-population counties.
AHCJ publication
Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web
Tip sheets
Tools for covering hospitals: Financial documents
‘A Hidden Shame:’ Tips for reporting on deaths in mental hospitals
Ripping the cover off hospital finances
Computer-assisted reporting basics: Investigating health data using spreadsheets
Sorting out hospital rankings
Finding patterns and trends in health data: Pivot tables in spreadsheets
AHCJ articles
Sunshine Week: Some hospital quality measures online but more could be done
Making sense of hospital quality reports
Deciphering cost reports helps paint picture of hospital’s financial health
Consider source when reporting hospital rankings
HealthGrades, a health care ratings company, has released a report (PDF) that says “Medicare patients treated at top-rated hospitals nationwide across the most common Medicare diagnoses and procedures are 27 percent less likely to die, on average, than those admitted to all other hospitals.”
The report also names the hospitals that HealthGrades has deemed “Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.”
That study (PDF) and the designations for hospitals are prompting a number of news articles reporting that local hospitals have been named as “top hospitals.”
But there are some things to think about when examining hospital rankings. For one thing, hospitals pay HealthGrades to use its information as promotional material. In addition, the data HealthGrades uses can be out of date and is based only on Medicare patients. A 2002 review found that “ratings on individual hospitals were often misleading.”
Charles Ornstein of ProPublica wrote a thorough tip sheet about how to cover your local hospital, including information about HealthGrades and other hospital rankings.
For a more balanced comparison of local hospitals, consider using the Hospital Compare patient survey data from the Department of Health and Human Services. AHCJ has made it easier for journalists to compare hospitals in their regions by generating spreadsheet files from the HHS database, allowing members to compare more than a few hospitals at a time, using spreadsheet or database software.
AHCJ provides key documentation and explanatory material to help you understand the data possibilities and limits. Need help analyzing Excel files? AHCJ offers a tutorial about investigating health data using spreadsheets.
Easier-to-use Hospital Compare data
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s David Gulliver was among several reporters who reported earlier this year about the U.S. Health and Human Services’ release of a new component of its Hospital Compare database - the results of a patient satisfaction survey announced at Health Journalism 2008 in March. He recently followed up using updated data in a more comprehensive story, analyzing all three components of the Hospital Compare database - “process” measures, or accepted standards of care; the patient survey; and “outcome” measures - the percentage of patients who died within 30 days of admission from heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia. HHS now updates the patient survey data quarterly, and AHCJ has made it easier for journalists to make their own comparisons. AHCJ has begun generating spreadsheet files, allowing members to use spreadsheet or database software with precision. AHCJ provides key documentation and explanatory material to help you understand the data possibilities and limits.
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Health Journalism 2010, AHCJ's annual conference, features a world-class program with story ideas, sources, stronger reporting skills, chances to meet newsmakers and network with other journalists.
- Health and education: Covering these intersecting beats
- Reporting on the business of health care
- Health reporting resources for journalists on state and local government beats
- Shortened Lives: How location, lifestyle affect health
- Covering a complex story for the long haul
- Aging in the 21st Century: Presentations and tip sheets
- AHCJ calls for better information from Joint Commission Web site
