Critical Access Hospital Participation in the Hospital Quality Alliance and Initial Quality Measure Results

Research center:
Lead researcher:
Project completed:
February 2006
The purpose of this project is to:
  • Estimate the proportion of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) that are participating partially or fully in the Hospital Quality Alliance
  • Assess the key factors related to CAH participation in the Hospital Quality Alliance
  • Determine how many CAHs have sufficient sample sizes to calculate accurate rates for specific measures
  • Compare the initial year of quality measure results for CAHs with relevant hospital subgroups.

This project will use secondary data from CMS on CAH participation in the Hospital Quality Alliance, as well as data from the AHA Annual Survey and the Area Resource File on hospital characteristics that may affect CAH participation.

Publications

  • CAH Participation in Hospital Compare and Initial Results
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 02/2006
    This paper examines the participation of critical access hospitals (CAHs) in public reporting of quality measures in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare database. It presents the initial results for CAHs and comparisons with other hospital groups on quality measures for various conditions.