No love for Nashville hospitals
Posted on October 13, 2009 at 7:22 amData Advantage today released a list of the 100 “Best in Value” hospitals from its Hospital Value Index. The Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge was the only Tennessee hospital to make the list, which is presented alphabetically. Facilities in New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama and North Carolina are the best represented.
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Need a hospital? Stay away from California
Posted on September 9, 2009 at 6:59 amA teaser look at the upcoming release by Data Advantage of the Hospital Value Index puts most of the lowest-rated markets in the Golden State. The top cities to be in — their actual names will be released next week — are in smaller, less populous states.
“The rules have changed — whether because of the economy, health reform or Value-Based purchasing, and quality alone is not a sustainable strategy for the U.S. hospital industry,” said John Morrow, one of the authors of the study. “These organizations will need to be accountable to their communities for their performance on value and be transparent about doing so.”
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Taking shots at Gawande
Posted on July 22, 2009 at 2:17 pmAs the health care reform debate continues, DataAdvantage CEO Hal Andrews has some words and facts for the Atul Gawande disciples in the room.
We know some of the people involved in the Dartmouth Atlas Project, and we think their analysis is interesting and important. Even so, we are surprised and dismayed at how policymakers are using the findings as the map for healthcare reform in Washington, D.C., and we are frankly appalled at how The New Yorker article by Dr. Atul Gawande has seemingly become the guidepost of reform. The reason is that the conclusions that the Obama administration has made from Dr. Gawande’s article are, at best, suspect and, at worst, completely wrong. Reengineering 20% of the economy is a large task, in our view, and getting the facts straight is important.
So, what have we done? Instead of using an “Atlas” to analyze McAllen and El Paso, we suggest using “GPS” to triangulate the position that hospitals played in overall excess cost and utilization. Doing so provides some critical facts that The New Yorker failed to report.
Apparently, NashvillePost owes Andrews an apology for mentioning him in the same paragraph. Sorry ’bout that, Hal.
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Boston health care party
Posted on July 7, 2009 at 11:14 amData Advantage chief executive Hal Andrews, in a recent blog post, takes a look at the tax-exemption on employer-sponsored healthcare benefits.
An article published (ironically) July 4 in The Boston Globe reveals the crux of the problem of healthcare in America, which is the tax-exemption on employer-sponsored healthcare benefits. The article entitled Healthcare overhaul could limit tax breaks on benefits reports that New Hampshire state employees pay $720 per year for $20,400 of coverage. As part of the coverage, “surgery is free, even at Boston’s top teaching hospitals if it’s necessary. So are MRIs, CT scans, and X-rays.” Hmmm….
Diana Lacey, the chair of collective bargaining for the union, thinks that healthcare reform should “bring people up to the standard we have - healthcare that is responsible and affordable and you don’t have to go bankrupt to get the treatment you need”. Query as to where those dollars come from…
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Another blog joins the ‘-osphere’
Posted on June 22, 2009 at 1:42 pmLocal health care information firm Data Advantage has started its own blog. Those interested in issues facing the health care world can now hear a local insider’s take from the company’s highly regarded chief executive Hal Andrews, who has been responsible for most of the site’s posts.
To view The Healthcare Value Blog, click here.
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It’s never the same anywhere
Posted on May 4, 2009 at 12:22 pmNashville’s Data Advantage today released results of its state-by-state hospital comparison, part of its Hospital Value Index, which rates hospitals quality of care, affordability and efficiency, and patient satisfaction and often highlights the disparate level of value between different areas of the country.
According to its latest interactive map, available here, shows the highest health care value to be found in Montana, Massachusetts, and Iowa, while states like New Mexico, Nevada, and California.
Tennessee’s score fell more towards the middle.
Study: Hospitals delivering less value than last year
Posted on March 4, 2009 at 10:33 am
Research firm Data Advantage, which is run by former Essent exec Hal Andrews, says the median Hospital Value Index – a measure culled from CMS numbers that combines cost and quality – has fallen more than 8 percent since last summer. Another statistical tidbit: The best value for your hospital dollar is in the Great Plains.
Of the four best performing CMS regions, the hospitals in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri (CMS Region VII) reported the lowest average Medicare reimbursement per member per year for all healthcare costs, indicating that these hospitals are able to offer relatively high value at a relatively low cost.
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