Michigan Price and Health Quality Data
Frequency: Quarterly
Measure Type: Process, Cost
Michigan’s Hospital Inform provides cost and quality data for consumers. Their objective is to improve the quality of care for patients and offer high-quality affordable health care. The quality data is derived from their Hospital Compare site, sponsored by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS provides quarterly data updates.
Their quality measures test heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia from the various participating hospitals. For each measure, the national average is available for all hospital, along with the average score for all Michigan hospitals. Medicare pricing information is also available for consumers, illustrating the average hospital charge, average payments, and the total number of patients.
Data on patients who would have an outlier for payment were not used in the data collection. For example, if the amount for the cost of care is higher than expected. There is also some variation between hospitals performing the same procedure or offering the same services. This is due to the type of Medicare payments each hospital receives. If a facility uses IME (Indirect Medical Education), Medicare reimburses additional indirect costs of patient care associated with operating an approved teaching program.
