Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111097

Fiona D. Smith, MPH, Outcome Sciences, 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139, (617) 947-7335, fsmith@outcome.com and David Miranda, PhD, Center for Beneficiary Choices, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21244.

The purpose of this presentation is to describe research conducted to determine how to best incorporate information about surgical infection rates with more disease- and condition-specific measures of healthcare quality into an existing website comparing hospitals. The presentation will focus on the results of interviews and focus groups conducted with consumers and health care providers. We will describe how the research was used to incorporate the new measures into the Hospital Compare site to be posted on www.medicare.gov in early 2006. Please note that this research has not been initiated yet, but results will be available in the summer of 2005. We will also discuss the implications of this research on plans to incorporate information on patient perspectives on care, from the Hospital CAHPS survey.

NOTE: This presentation is part of a panel convened by Myles Maxfield, abstract #104122

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the new health care quality measures used by Medicare to compare the performance of hospitals 2)Discuss how health care quality measures were described to make them more comprehensible and relevant to consumers

Keywords: Hospitals, Quality of Life

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation