State Public Health Director Announces New Information on Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide to Health Care Web Site

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Damon T. Arnold today announced the Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide to Health Care Web site has been updated with new and additional information.  The Hospital Report Card Act requires all Illinois hospitals to report nurse staffing, infection prevention measures and hospital acquired infections data to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).  The Consumer Guide to Health Care contains information from hospitals and ambulatory surgical treatment centers about conditions and procedures demonstrating the widest variation in charges and quality of care.  The Web site includes inpatient and outpatient data with current comparison information related to volume of cases, average charges, mortality rates, complications and hospital associated infections.   

"To help Illinoisans make better decisions about their choice of hospital or health care provider, they need information about the quality of care offered by these facilities.  The Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide to Health Care Web site allows consumers to find average costs for specific medical procedures, nurse staffing levels at hospitals and general quality of care information," said Dr. Arnold.

Updates include data from July 2008 through June 2009 in the following areas:
• All Agency for Health Care Research and Quality indicators.
• Surgical Care Improvement Project measures.
• Nurse staffing - nursing hours for intensive care units (ICU), medical-surgical units and maternal-child units.  Nursing vacancies and turnover information is also included.
• Patient satisfaction - added state and national averages for patient satisfaction data.
• Services - inpatient and outpatient conditions, and procedures and charges for both hospitals and ambulatory surgical treatment centers.

Additional information added to the Web site includes:
• 2009 Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI) data and a statewide report on CLABSI.
• Updated state hospital designations.
• Emergency Medical Systems (EMS) for children designations.
• Hospital emergency department volume and hours on bypass.
• Risk adjusted data for mortality and patient safety (better, average, worse).

The site also offers hospitals and surgical treatment centers the opportunity to identify quality and safety improvements by comparing information with other facilities.  The site will be routinely updated with the most recent data available.

Lead sponsors for the Hospital Report Card Act were Rep. Mary Flowers and former senator Barack Obama.  Lead sponsors for the Consumer Guide to Health Care were Rep. Julie Hamos and Sen. Susan Garrett.

The Illinois Department of Public Health's Division of Patient Safety and Quality promotes health care transparency and is responsible for developing and implementing programs to collect and report health care provider data for improving the quality and value of health care services delivered to Illinois residents.

Access to the Hospital Report Card and Consumer Guide to Health Care can be found at www.idph.state.il.us or www.healthcarereportcard.illinois.gov.