AHA News: Critical access hospitals and other hospitals previously not able to submit quality of care data under the hospital outpatient quality data reporting program will be allowed to do so voluntarily beginning with patient encounters in first-quarter 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

Modern Healthcare reports measures used by the federal agencies under HHS for reporting, payment and quality improvement are now available in one location on a new Web site.

Chronically ill adults in the U.S. are far more likely to forgo care because of cost than their counterparts in seven other countries, according to a survey published online by Health Affairs (AHA News.

Nursing homes in Pennsylvania will begin reporting on infection rates in 2009, to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, in an increased effort to prevent healthcare-associated infections.

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority currently collects infection data from Pennsylvania hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities since June 2004.

Infection rate reporting is part of Act 52 to reduce the number of infections in Pennsylvania's hospitals and nursing homes.

Death rates at Nevada hospitals improved in seven of eight categories in the annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, but improvement rates in the state were lower than the national rate in many categories, writes Reno Gazette Journal.

U.S. News released its annual Health Plan rankings (health.usnews.com/healthplans) of hundreds of commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid managed-care plans. Managed-care providers have to turn over data describing their performance in a host of clinical and member-satisfaction measures to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, managed care's major accrediting and standards-setting body. They also have to agree to make the information public.

The Leapfrog Group is set to launch its new hospital incentives and reward program - The Leapfrog Hospital Rewards Program, or LHRP - which will be based on data collected through its updated Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which evaluates hospital patient safety.

The state of California joins at least 14 other states that mandate reporting of hospital-acquired infections. Beginning in January 2009, the state agency that regulates health care facilities will oversee hospital efforts to improve and ensure more effective infection control practices and require reporting of deadly infections contracted during hospital stays (The Press Enterprise).

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality designated its first 10 patient-safety organizations covered under interim guidelines as HHS continues to hammer out a final rule governing how PSOs will collect and share patient-safety data, writes Modern Healthcare.

The latest data update to the New York State Nursing Homes Profile Web site (nursinghomes.nyhealth.gov), which included updates to quality data, was published today. Nursing Home quality measures are reported to June 30, 2008.

AHA News:Hospitals performing in the top quartile on the HCAHPS survey of patients’ perception of care had slightly higher average scores for clinical quality than hospitals performing in the bottom quartile, according to a study in the Oct. 30 New England Journal of Medicine.

To support consumer engagement and improved quality in healthcare, the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed guidelines for consumer-focused, internet-based public reporting. These guidelines will assist report sponsors to present information about hospital quality in an evidence-based and consumer-friendly format that can be used to make informed decisions about healthcare.

Health care consumers and employers in the Northeastern U.S. have a unique tool for evaluating the region's hospitals and managed care plans: the New York State Health Accountability Foundation's Regional Health Care Report Card.

AHA News: Families USA has released a series of state-specific reports showing the rising cost of health insurance premiums compared with median family income. In Alabama, for example, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family coverage rose 79% between 2000 and 20007, while median worker earnings rose 17%.

The latest data update to the New York State Home Health and Hospice Care Profile Web site (homecare.nyhealth.gov/), which included updates to quality data, was published today.

Home health quality measures reported are for time-period April 2007 - March 2008 for the following quality measures

• Percentage of patients who get better at walking or moving around
• Percentage of patients who get better at getting in and out of bed
• Percentage of patients who have less pain when moving around