Why Not The Best

Help Page:

WhyNotTheBest.org enables users to

see how well health care organizations across the nation are doing on measures of health care quality; and
access improvement tools, case studies of top-performing hospitals, and other resources.

Report Problems and Give Feedback

If you are having technical problems with the site, please contact wntb-support@ipro.us.

Over time, we will be adding other data sets and resources, based on your feedback. If you would like to provide feedback or make suggestions for further development of the site, please contact wntb-support@ipro.us

Frequently Asked Questions

Hospitals

Why can't I find my hospital?

We only store hospital entities that report data on the included measures to CMS. This data is stored by Medicare Provider Number, and some hospitals share a number between several facilities. If you are having trouble searching by the name of your hospital, try searching by region (i.e., by state and county) or characteristics (e.g., by ownership or bed size). If you are a Medicare or Medicaid certified hospital but are not listed in this database, please contact your state survey agency to have them correct your information.

Why is a hospital that I know reports CLABSI data not appearing on WhyNotTheBest.org?

There could be several reasons why a hospital that you know reports CLABSI data is not appearing on WhyNotTheBest.org. Per our methodology, they must meet the sample size requirements:

At least 1,000 central line days (CLDs) OR
At least three infections, regardless of the number of central line days. A hospital that reports three or more infections, even in fewer than 1,000 CLDs, could not achieve better than a rate of three infections/1,000 CLDs; this is 50 percent higher than the national infection rate for medical ICUs.

To locate hospitals reporting CLABSI data, search via hospitals' Location/Characteristics using the "Hospitals Reporting…" filter, choosing the "Health Care-Associated Infections" option. Or, follow the shortcuts to view performance data for hospitals in a particular state in the methodology section.

How can I change my hospital characteristics? (Bed count, ownership etc.)

This data is derived from CMS's Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting (OSCAR) database. If the information about your hospital's characteristics is incorrect, or has changed, please contact your state survey agency OSCAR/ASPEN Coordinator to have it updated.

Measures

Where does the measure data come from?

Data come from:

Clinical Quality Measures Data submitted to the QIO Clinical Warehouse - Hospitals submit patient record data for the clinical conditions.
The information for the survey of patients’ hospital experiences was collected and reported through MyQualityNet using the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey. This survey asks patients about their experiences with medical, surgical, or maternity care during a recent overnight stay in the hospital.
Summary measures based on the clinical data calculated for WhyNotTheBest.org (see Methodology).
Readmission and mortality rates, as reported on CMS Hospital Compare, are calculated using Medicare enrollment and claims records, and a complex statistical procedure. The rates are risk-adjusted , meaning that the calculations take into account how sick patients were when they went in for their initial hospitalization.
Reimbursement data -- Patients that have similar clinical characteristics and similar costs are assigned to an MS-DRG. The MS-DRG will be associated with a fixed payment amount based on the average cost of patients in the group. Patients are assigned to a MS-DRG based on diagnosis, surgical procedures, age and other information. Medicare uses this information that is provided by hospitals on their bill to decide how much they should be paid. Hospital Compare shows information for each hospital on selected MS-DRGs from October 2007 through September 2008. If a MS-DRG has "Complications" or "Comorbidities" in its title, it means the hospital may have treated more complicated patients.
Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) data - data are derived from states where hospitals report data as a result of state laws as well as from other states in which some hospitals voluntarily reported infection data to the Leapfrog Group. The data were made available by special arrangement with Consumer Reports Health, who integrated data from each of the states and from the Leapfrog Group to produce the results displayed here.
Inpatient Quality Indicators, Patient Safety Indicators, and Prevention Quality Indicators -- these are based on hospital inpatient administrative data, which are provided by states. See Methodology for more information.
Population Health, and Utilization and Costs -- these data are drawn from the Institute of Medicine, based on the CMS Geographic Variation in Medicare Spending and Utilization database.
Health Information Technology Adoption -- these data come from the American Hospital Association's electronic health record adoption database, which provides information on indicators that illustrate the depth and level of technology integration within hospitals.

What time period are the data from?

The process-of-care measures, HCAHPS measures, readmission rates, mortality rates, and reimbursement data are from the most recently available four quarters, as reported by CMS. The only exceptions are for the measures that have been retired by CMS -- those measures will not have data from latest quarters. From the report tables, you can click on any one of the measures to view data over time. The CLABSI, inpatient quality, patient safety, and prevention quality data are from the most recently available data as reported by hospitals within each particular state. The health information technology adoption data are from the most recent American Hospital Association survey. The population health, and utilization and costs data are from the last most recent four quarters. At this time, we are not sure whether/how often these data will be updated by CMS.