Hospital Claims Data May Be Inadequate To Track Infection Rates, Study Says

A new analysis finds that hospital claims data may be inadequate in tracking surgical site infections compared with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) database, underscoring its importance for evaluating hospital quality. In the study, published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, researchers compared NHSN data to claims data for infections following colon surgery. They found wide discrepancies between the two data sources, especially among hospitals in the South and those that care for relatively more Medicaid patients. Researchers concluded that a single, agreed-upon national set of definitions and data is of greater importance for public reporting and value-based payment programs. Access the abstract.

2018 Dec 4:1-3. doi: 10.1017/ice.2018.310. [Epub ahead of print]

Comparison of hospital surgical site infection rates and rankings using claims versus National Healthcare Safety Network surveillance data.

Rhee C1, Wang R1, Jentzsch MS1, Broadwell C1, Hsu H1, Jin R1, Horan K1, Lee GM1.

Author information

Abstract

National policies target healthcare-associated infections using medical claims and National Healthcare Safety Network surveillance data. We found low concordance between the 2 data sources in rates and rankings for surgical site infection following colon surgery in 155 hospitals, underscoring the limitations in evaluating hospital quality by claims data.