HPR Technical Report - What is new for the 1998 Hospital Performance Report

In June 1999 the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) published the 1997 Hospital Performance Report in nine regional installments. For the 1998 Report, PHC4 has opted to publish three "wide-area" regional reports. This allows a broader range of comparison among acute care facilities. The wide-area regions are:

The following table summarizes report changes developed in the 1997 Report and utilized in the 1998 Report.

 

1997 Methodology

1998 Methodology

Measures Reported
  • In-hospital mortality
  • Average hospital charge
  • Average length of stay
  • Percent age 65 and over†
  • Average AtlasTM Severity†
  • Actual Deaths†
  • Expected Deaths†
  • P-value†

Same

Hospitals

Acute care facilities (regardless of bed size)

Acute care facilities (excluding low-volume specialty acute care hospitals)

DRGs

15 included (includes 3 DRGs collapsed into 1 DRG)

Same

Comparative Database

Pennsylvania Hospital 1997 Inpatient Database with all relevant data

Pennsylvania Hospital 1998 Inpatient Database with all relevant data

Risk Adjustment Technique

Indirect standardization

Same

Adjustment Factors

(for in-hospital mortality and length of stay)
  • Atlas Severity of Illness
  • Age categories :
  • <65
  • 65 – 79
  • 80+
  • Cancer categories:
  • None
  • Malignant neoplasm and in situ
  • History of cancer

Same

Statistical Tests

(for in-hospital mortality)
  • Exact Binomial Test

Same

Trim Methodology

(for charges and length of stay)
  • +/- 3.0 Interquartile Range
  • Outlier exclusion is considered separately.

Same

† This information is not available within the public report document, but can be found on the Council website.