Hospitals in U.S. urban cities deliver low healthcare value

Sep 9 2009

According to the most recent Hospital Value Index™ results, a study that analyzed data from more than 4,500 hospitals across the United States, hospitals in the largest U.S. cities generally offer a low value of patient care compared to elsewhere in the country.

“Our findings conclude that these urban areas offer less affordable and less efficient care, which affected the overall performance of the market,” said Hal Andrews, Chief Executive Officer of Data Advantage, the company that developed and maintains the Hospital Value Index™.

"Ironically, we found that the hospitals with which the White House and its advisers are most intimately familiar deliver low healthcare value against every benchmark - city, state, CMS Region, and the U.S.”

For example, the Chicago market ranked 88th out of the 100 largest markets, just one spot behind McAllen, Texas and one spot ahead of Honolulu. Other than Fort Myers and Las Vegas, the lowest-ranking large markets were all in California. The top five states in delivering value were North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and Maine. The bottom five states were New Mexico, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.

“Like every other good and service, price is an essential part of healthcare value,” said Andrews. “For California, prices are relatively high, even after adjusting for national wage variances. The uninsured, underinsured and health savings account members are disproportionately harmed by the high prices, without receiving superior quality, outcomes or patient experience in exchange.”

“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. The Hospital Value Index™ is a means toward that end.”

The latest study from the Hospital Value Index™ used the most current and comprehensive set of publicly available data, including Hospital Compare data released by CMS in July 2009, to analyze more than 4,500 U.S. hospitals to discover where patients can find the best value of care in their community. The Hospital Value Index™ researchers analyzed a variety of public data on hospital quality, price, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. The Hospital Value Index™ is updated frequently to reflect the dynamic impact of change occurring in the hospital industry.

Data Advantage will release the complete 2009-2010 Hospital Value Index™ results on September 15 in Washington, D.C. For more information on the Hospital Value Index™ findings, please visit www.HospitalValueIndex.com or www.TheHealthcareValueBlog.com.

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