VA data released on CMS' Hospital Compare

Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) medical centers are now included in the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website, which measures hospital quality based the outcomes of care.

Mortality and readmission results were first posted in 2010 on the VA Hospital Compare website using a similar method limited to only VA patients. VA results posted on VA’s site are updated quarterly and will not match the results on CMS Hospital Compare, which are only updated annually and lag behind about a year, VA stated.

CMS is reporting 30-day measures for three common and high-cost conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF) and pneumonia to the public through its website. This year CMS is reporting results for patients treated in VA’s healthcare system.

Results of VA medical centers’ risk-adjusted mortality and readmission are available to the public on the CMS Hospital Compare website.

Veterans, stakeholders and the general public will be able to directly compare the mortality rates and readmission rates at individual VA medical centers against non-VA hospitals for AMI, HF and pneumonia, VA added.

The cases reported are from July 2007 through June 2010 for approximately 4,530 non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals (including critical access hospitals) and Indian Health Services hospitals.

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