Frequency: Quarterly
Measure Type: Utilization, Cost, Demographics
The Texas Health Care Information Collection (THCIC) Center for Health Services provides data to assist health plan purchasers on selecting appropriate health care plans. Quality performances are measured on all the Texas hospitals. Cost measures are also provided from THCIC. Information is updated quarterly.
Resources for the data collected are derived from 3M Health Information System. APR-DRGs, ICD-9-CM codes, CPT codes, and HCPCS medical codes are used in the data intake. The hospital inpatient discharge data includes: demographic data, geographic information, diagnoses and procedures, and also primary and secondary sources of payment.
The website is not a consumer friendly data source for quality reports. The department of state health statistics offers several websites where individuals can access reports on data. There are also reports illustrating hospital discharge records, trends in the health profession, as well as, surveys of Texas hospital facilities.
Reports on Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) are listed for consumers to determine the quality of care on the various health plans. Currently, separate reports are available for six regions in the state: Central Texas, North Texas, East Texas, Gulf Coast Texas, Panhandle/West Texas, and South Texas. An illustration in the report displays the percentage on how consumers rate their health plan.
Texas Department of State Health Services allows the release of discharge data on Texas hospitals. You can request data by the different regions in Texas or request data based on quarterly updates. For research purposes, hospital discharge data can also be collected if the public data files are not released. There are separate research forms to be completed for this step.
