The Massachusetts Hospital Association this week began using its Patients First Web site to post the rates of pressure ulcers, or bed sores, at hospitals statewide, reports iHealthbeat. As previously blogged, the Web site already includes data on patient falls at hospitals and nurse staffing plans.
The hospital group gathered data from the state’s 80 acute care, rehabilitation and long-term acute hospitals during two days in March and September 2007. The reports then were divided by the units where patients were treated. The hospital rates are compared with state averages for hospitals of similar size and type.
The Massachusetts Hospital Association released this new data as part of an ongoing effort to increase transparency about hospital care in the Commonwealth. The public release of this data makes Massachusetts hospitals among the first in the nation to voluntarily report such data.