Participating in programs that publicly report quality-of-care data has significantly increased quality improvement efforts and interest in quality issues among hospital leaders, reports a new study by the research firm Mathematica. (Click here to download the 71-page report.) Researchers surveyed senior hospital executives and directors of quality improvement on their experiences with Hospital Compare, the CMS quality initiative that allows consumers to view data on 17 clinical measures for 4,200 hospitals on its web site. Based on 1,291 interviews conducted last summer, one-quarter of respondents said that their hospitals received publicity or attention as a result of Hospital Compare scores, with 44% reporting positive publicity and 26% experiencing negative publicity. Over 80% of executives said their hospitals’ scores had significantly improved since they were posted in 2003 due to new quality improvement efforts. Of those hospitals that were below the 50th percentile in at least one measure, executives attributed the poor scores to inaccurate documentation, lack of physician involvement, not enough financial resources, and inadequate QI staff.
