|
|
||||
User's Guide 
Introduction
Charge Chart Notes
Quality Chart Notes
Procedures Not Listed
Process of Care
Outcome of Care
Patient Experience
WV Hospital Services and Departments
Data Sources
Medical Dictionary
Contact
CompareCareWV™
Introduction to CompareCareWV™
The goal of CompareCareWV™ is to enable patients and their families to be more involved in choosing the hospital that is right for their care by having knowledge about West Virginia hospital charges, quality of care, and related health options. Use the CompareCareWV™ information in consultation with your physician and other health care providers.
CompareCareWV™ provides listings of West Virginia and surrounding area hospitals' professional average charges and quality information in simple chart form. The chart allows patients to compare what different hospitals charge on average for the same service. Begin by clicking on either the Cost or Quality banner (icon). Follow the few prompts to create a chart displaying both facility and professional charges according to the selected medical service and quality information available.
NOTE: Because each patient's medical needs vary, final comprehensive charges may be different than the charges displayed in CompareCareWV™, which are averages for the chosen service.
WV Hospital Locations & Services
Under the WV Hospital Locations & Services tab, consumers can find out which hospitals offer what services or departments. Service options are presented in this section.
User's Guide
CompareCareWV™ provides information on how to use the website and provides links to several national agencies that publish reports on the quality of care provided by hospitals in West Virginia and surrounding areas.
Related Links
The Related Links section provides health-related national, state and local organizations sites. For additional reading on disease management, the latest health news, or medical reports, look in this section.
Researchers & Medical Professionals
Physicians and providers can find in-depth information on the data sources, inclusions and calculation methods chosen to prepare the CompareCareWV™ data. Although this section is open to all visitors, it will be most useful to health care professionals.
Charge Chart Notes
1. Selected Procedure - The specific medical service according to the selection made in the Procedure section of CompareCareWV™.
NOTE: Not all medical services are available for selection. If your service is not listed, please contact your hospital of choice for charge details.
2. Hospital Name - All hospitals are located in West Virginia. The
is clickable and will lead to
more information about the facility.
3. Patient Status (In/Out Patient) - Indicates that the displayed charges are based on whether the service is performed on an inpatient or outpatient basis.
4. Average Facility Charge - This is the average charge for the nonprofessional aspects of a service. This may include, but is not limited to, room and board, supplies, pharmacy and laboratory for an episode of care.
5. Average Professional Charge - This is the average charge for services performed by licensed or certified health professionals within the hospital setting. These may include, but are not limited to physicians, anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, etc for an episode of care.
6. Average Total Charge - This is the sum of the Facility Charge and the Professional Charge.
7. Quality Indicator - This provides the quality indicator score available that most closely relates to the procedure chosen. If no indicator is available, patient experience ratings are provided.
Quality Chart Notes
1. Process of Care Measures - These measures show how often hospitals give recommended treatments known to get the best results. In this example, the medical condition selected ia pneumonia. To choose another condition please return to the previous screen.
2. Definition of Condition Selected - This is a very brief explanation of the medical condition selected from the previous
screen.
NOTE: Not all medical services are available at this time. More services will be added as ratings become available.
3. 
-
Hospital scores and/or results may be displayed in graphical form.
4. 
-
Hospital scores and/or results may be displayed in chart form.
5. View Patient Experience Hospital Rating - HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a national survey that asks patients about their experiences during a recent hospital stay. The results displayed reflect topics such as communications with hospital staff and cleanliness of the facility.
6. Hospital(s) - The hospital(s) selected on the previous screen are displayed. The
above the hospital name provides additional information about that
hospital.
All hospitals are located in WV.
7. Percentage Score - The number shown, for example 93%, is in relation to 100%, which is the highest score.
Procedures or Tests Not Listed
The hospital(s) selected on the previous screen are displayed. The
above the hospital name provides additional information
about that hospital.
All hospitals are located in WV.
More procedures and tests will be added, again based on volume and by the requests of CompareCareWV™ users. Contact us to submit a request for the inclusion of a specific procedure or test.
My local hospital is not listed for the service I requested. Why?
Not all hospitals in West Virginia offer all the same services. And, some hospitals may offer a procedure or test, but it is not performed often enough to make the charges "statistically valid."
If your chosen hospital is not displayed for a selected service, ask your physician or the hospital personnel for more information.
Process of Care
| Pneumonia Measures | Heart Attack Measures | Heart Failure Measures | Surgical Care Improvement Measures |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Assessed and Given Pneumococcal Vaccination | Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given Aspirin at Arrival | Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given Discharge Instructions | Percent of patients who got treatment at the right time (within 24 hours before or after their surgery) to help prevent blood clots after certain types of surgery |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Whose Initial Emergency Room Blood Culture Was Performed Prior To The Administration Of The First Hospital Dose Of Antibiotics | Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given Aspirin at Discharge | Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given an Evaluation of Left Ventricular Systolic (LVS) Function | Percent of surgery patients whose doctors ordered treatments to prevent blood clots after certain types of surgeries |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Given Smoking Cessation Advice/Counseling | Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given ACE Inhibitor or ARB for Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD) | Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given ACE Inhibitor or ARB for Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD) | Percent of surgery patients who were given the right kind of antibiotic to help prevent infection |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Given Initial Antibiotic(s) within 6 Hours After Arrival | Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given Smoking Cessation Advice/Counseling | Percent of Heart Failure Patients Given Smoking Cessation Advice/Counseling | Percent of surgery patients whose preventive antibiotics were stopped at the right time (within 24 hours after surgery) |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Given the Most Appropriate Initial Antibiotic(s) | Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given Beta Blocker at Discharge | Percent of all heart surgery patients whose blood sugar (blood glucose) is kept under good control in the days right after surgery | |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Assessed and Given Influenza Vaccination | Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given Fibrinolytic Medication Within 30 Minutes Of Arrival | Percent of surgery patients needing hair removed from the surgical area before surgery, who had hair removed using a safer method (electric clippers or hair removal cream - not a razor) | |
| Percent of Heart Attack Patients Given PCI Within 90 Minutes Of Arrival | Percent of surgery patients who were given an antibiotic at the right time (within one hour before surgery) to help prevent infection | ||
| Percent of surgery patients who were taking heart drugs called beta blockers before coming to the hospital, who were kept on the beta blockers during the period just before and after their surgery |
What are the Hospital Process of Care Measures?
A process of care measure shows how often hospitals give recommended treatments known to get the best results for patients with certain medical conditions or surgical procedures. Information about these treatments are taken from the patients' records and converted into a percentage. This is one way to compare the quality of care that hospitals give.
The hospital process of care measures include:
- Six measures related to pneumonia care
- Seven measures related to heart attack care
- Four measures related to heart failure care
- Eight measures related to surgical care improvement project
The measures are based on scientific evidence about treatments that are known to get the best results. Health care experts and researchers are constantly evaluating the evidence to make sure guidelines and measures are kept up-to-date. Sometimes, guidelines and measures are revised to reflect new evidence. In the future, it is expected that the number of measures and the types of conditions and treatments that hospitals will report over time will increase.
Source: US Dept. of Health and Human Services
Outcome of Care
What are Outcome of Care Measures?
Outcome of Care Measures show what happened to patients with certain conditions who are 65 and older, have Medicare and are discharged from the hospital. The readmission rate focuses on whether patients were hospitalized again within 30 days. The death rate focuses on whether patients died within 30 days of their hospitalization. Death rates and rates of readmission show whether a hospital is doing its best to prevent complications, teach patients at discharge, and ensure patients make a smooth transition to their home or another setting.
These rates are calculated using Medicare enrollment and claims records, and a complex statistical procedure. The readmission and death rates are risk-adjusted, which means that the rate takes into account how sick patients were when they went in for their initial hospitalization. When the rates are risk-adjusted, it helps make comparisons fair and meaningful.
Hospital Readmissions Measures
"Readmission" is when patients who have had a recent stay in the hospital go back into a hospital again. The information shows how often patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge from a previous hospital stay for heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia. Patients may have been readmitted back to the same hospital or to a different hospital or acute care facility. They may have been readmitted for the same condition as their recent hospital stay, or for a different reason.
This website shows how different hospitals' rates of readmission for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia patients compare to the U.S. National Rate. You can see whether the 30-day risk-adjusted rate of readmission for a hospital is lower (better) than the national rate, no different than the national rate, or higher (worse) than the national rate, given how sick patients were when they were admitted to the hospital. For some hospitals, the number of cases is too small (fewer than 25) to reliably tell how well the hospital is performing, so no comparison to the national rate is shown.
Hospital Death (Mortality) Measures
One way to tell whether a hospital is doing a good job is to find out whether patients admitted to the hospital have death (mortality) rates that are lower (better) than the U.S. National rate, about the same as the U.S. National rate, or higher (worse) than the U.S. National rate, given how sick they were when they were admitted to the hospital. The information shows how the 30-day risk-adjusted death rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia at different hospitals compare to the U.S. National rate. For some hospitals, the number of cases is too small (fewer than 25) to reliably tell how well the hospital is performing, so no comparison to the national rate is shown.
Source: Hospital Compare, US DHHS
Patient Experience
What is the Survey of Patients' Hospital Experiences (HCAHPS)?The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a national, standardized survey of hospital patients. HCAHPS was created to publicly report the patient's perspective of hospital care. The survey asks a random sample of recently discharged adult patients about important aspects of their hospital experience. For more information on the HCAHPS Survey: www.hcahpsonline.org The HCAHPS results allow consumers to compare hospitals with state and national benchmarks on how patients' perceive the quality of care provided. HCAHPS was developed by a partnership of public and private organizations. Development of the survey was funded by the Federal government, specifically the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Until HCAHPS there was no national standard for collecting and publicly reporting information about patient experience of care that allowed valid comparisons to be made across hospitals locally, regionally and nationally. Now, you can compare patient experiences in WV and surrounding hospitals. For more information on:
How many patients were surveyed for each hospital and how were they selected?
Which hospitals participate in the HCAHPS survey?
How is HCAHPS survey data collected?
How is the HCAHPS survey data prepared for reporting to the public on this website?
How is the HCAHPS survey data prepared for reporting to the public on this website?The following resources provide more information related to the HCAHPS survey.
Sources: HospitalCompare and HCAHPSonline |
|
WV Hospital Services & Departments Section
The following definitions are taken from the American Hospital Association’s annual survey of hospitals.
General Medical Surgery - Provides acute care to patients in medical and surgical units on the basis of physicians’ orders and approved nursing care plans.
Pediatric Medical Surgery - Provides acute care to pediatric patients on the basis of physicians’ orders and approved nursing care plans.
Obstetrics - Levels should be designated: (1) unit provides services for uncomplicated maternity and newborn cases; (2) unit provides services for uncomplicated cases, the majority of complicated problems, and special neonatal services; and (3) unit provides services for all serious illnesses and abnormalities and is supervised by a full-time maternal/fetal specialist.
Surgical Intensive Care (Medical surgical intensive care services) - Provides patient care of a more intensive nature than the usual medical and surgical care, on the basis of physician’s orders and approved nursing care plans. These units are staffed with specially trained nursing personnel and contain monitoring and specialized support equipment of patients, who, because of shock, trauma, or other life-threatening conditions, require intensified, comprehensive observation and care. Includes mixed intensive care units.
Neonatal Intensive Care - A unit that must be separate from the newborn nursery providing intensive care to all sick infants including those with the very lowest birth weights (less than 1500 grams). NICU has potential for providing mechanical ventilation, neonatal surgery, and special care for the sickest infants born in the hospital or transferred from another institution. A full-time neonatologist serves as director of the NICU.
Emergency Services (Emergency Department) - Hospital facilities for the provision of unscheduled outpatient services to patients whose conditions require immediate care. Must be staffed 24 hours a day.
Hospital Outpatient Care (Hospital-based outpatient care center services) - Organized hospital health care services offered by appointment on an ambulatory basis. Services may include outpatient surgery, examination, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety medical conditions on a nonemergency basis, and laboratory and other diagnostic testing as ordered by staff or outside physician referral.
Orthopedic Services - Services provided for the prevention or correction of injuries or disorders of the skeletal system and associated muscles, joints, and ligaments.
Outpatient Surgery - Scheduled surgical services provided to patients who do not remain in the hospital overnight. The surgery may be performed in operating suites also used for inpatient surgery, specially designated surgical suites for outpatient surgery, or procedure rooms within an outpatient care facility.
Oncology Services - An organized program for the treatment of cancer by the use of drugs or chemicals.
Data Sources
CompareCareWV™ charge information will be updated by the West Virginia Health Care Authority from data obtained from the WV Public Employee Insurance Agency and Medicaid. Please contact your chosen hospital if you have additional questions about your specific charges.
Patient charges for West Virginians enrolled in both the Medicaid program and the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) have been used to calculate the average charges displayed in CompareCareWV™.
The quality data is obtained from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Hospital Compare. CMS, the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), Joint Commission, and the nation's hospitals have worked together to create and publicly report hospital quality information. This information measures performance on National Quality Improvement Goals and measures how well hospitals care for their patients. The measures, which are endorsed by the National Quality Forum, allow hospitals to report on key quality of care indicators that include heart attack, heart failure, community acquired pneumonia, surgical care improvement for infection prevention, readmissions and mortality.
In addition, the results of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey, a national standardized survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perspectives on their hospital care, have been provided.
NOTE: Individual charges will likely differ somewhat, based on:
If you have health insurance,
The type of health insurance according to deductibles, copays, covered services
and other pertinent factors,
Your specific medical condition(s),
Services received in addition to the primary procedure or test.
CompareCareWV™ data is helpful in discussing options with your physician and in contrasting basic charges among West Virginia hospitals.
CompareCareWV™ is a project of the West Virginia Health Care Authority, a state agency.
Medical Dictionary
For consumer-friendly definitions of medical terms, please visit the Medical Dictionary Online.
This site may contain advertising.