New York hospitals have lower rates of surgical-site infections than the rest of the nation but the same or higher rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in intensive care units than those reported nationally, the New York State Health Department (DOH) announced today in its second annual Hospital-Acquired Infections, New York State 2008 Report.

The Niagara Health Quality Coalition (NHQC) will release the seventh annual New York State Hospital Report Card on June 21st. The report provides information for all hospitals in New York State for 42 procedures and conditions including mortality rates, error rates and surgical infection rates. In addition, pain management and overall patient satisfaction with clinical care are being added this year.

The 2009 New York State Hospital Report Card will be located at www.myHealthFinder.com.

The Fraser Institute released The Hospital Report Card: Alberta 2009, which measures the performance of all 102 acute-care hospitals in Alberta across 39 indicators of in-patient quality and patient safety based on data from 2002 to 2007. However, the Alberta government does not allow the institute to name the hospitals involved.

On July 1, Maryland's hospitals will receive financial incentives based on the steps taken to prevent complications, writes The Capital. The system will be based on a list of 64 preventable complications including collapsed lungs and infections of the urinary tract and in the blood, .

In 2007, the Texas legislature passed a law that required the Texas Department of State Health Services to make public health care acquired infection rates for several surgical procedures and bloodstream infections in hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and children’s hospitals by no later than June 1, 2008. Hospitals were supposed to begin reporting by June 1, 2008.

The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration (BISHCA) released its 2009 Hospital Comparion Report, reporting on quality care, patient safety and satisfaction, nurse staff levels and costs for services. The report analyzes Vermont hospitals handling of heart attacks, heart failures, pneumonia and surgery complications.

The NH Purchasers Group on Health released the New Hampshire Hospital Scorecard (www.nhpghscorecard.org), based on data about cost, quality of care and patient satisfaction previously gathered by state and federal agencies. The NH Purchasers Group on Health comprises of four of the largest public entities in NH, purchasing healthcare for more than 120,000 members.

Health Data Management reports that an National Quality Forum expert panel is seeking comment on the drafting of a quality data set to support automated, standards-based gathering of data from electronic health records and other electronic sources. NQF, a not-for-profit organization of industry stakeholders, was created to implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting.

Governor Edward G. Rendell signed three health care bills that were part of his Prescription for Pennsylvania health care reform plan and a fourth that was originally proposed as part of the Senate Republican package of health care bills.

Joye Burton sent a message using the contact form at
http://www.abouthealthtransparency.org/contact.

ATLANTA – Georgiahealthinfo.gov just made it even easier for Georgians to navigate through the myriad of health care options available to them. Newly added features such as long-term care quality comparisons, expanded provider look-up, and clinic and specialty hospitals search tools, enhance Georgians’ ability to identify long-term care options and health care providers.

An online database on every doctor in Colorado went live Sunday on the homepage of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, www.dora.state.co.us, writes Durango Herald News. The database includes information about doctors' education, malpractice lawsuits, criminal record and disciplinary actions, such as a loss of hospital privileges or drug-prescribing privileges.

Technical support provided by federally funded organizations operating in every state has had a substantial role in upgrading hospital care in the U.S. during a period when hospital performance improved faster than outpatient care, according to a new federal report.

Data.gov, which will make data generated by the federal government publicly available, was launched last week (5/21) by Federal CIO Vivek Kundra. The aim of Data.gov will be to improve government transparency by releasing these data sets so that citizens are able to analyze them and build mash-up applications. Not all government data will be released on Data.gov, though. According to a policy statement posted on the Web site, all information must comply with privacy regulations.

Kaiser Network: Quality of care is not linked to the cost of care, according to a study published last week on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, CQ HealthBeat reports.

The Idaho Stateman reports the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare was warned by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) last month to cease posting the results of nursing home and hospital inspections on its Web site for public review.