Author
The rising cost of health care, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other factors are putting increased attention on the quality of care. Recent analyses (see here and here) suggest that providers in the Ninth District are generally ahead of their national peers. Now a recent study by iVantage Health Analytics is piling on.
The firm’s Hospital Strength Index scored hospitals along nine measures, including cost, inpatient and outpatient shares, patient outcomes and perspectives, and financial strength. It looked at more than 4,300 U.S. hospitals, including 1,300 critical access hospitals, making it one of the largest and most comprehensive assessments of hospital performance in the country.
It found that hospitals in Ninth District states tend to be rated higher—in some cases, much higher—than their peers nationwide (see chart). In Wisconsin, for example, 40 percent of hospitals were given the top, Tier-1 rating, and 75 percent were in the top two tiers—better than all but three states. Every district state had a higher percentage of hospitals in the top three tiers compared with the national average.
Ninth District states are also home to almost 20 percent of critical access hospitals nationwide, which are small rural hospitals that receive special, cost-based reimbursements different from other hospitals. In a related ranking by iVantage, district states were home to 34 of the top 100 critical access hospitals.
For more analysis of health care issues in the Ninth District, watch for a forthcoming fedgazette article on ACA implementation in Ninth District states.
Ron Wirtz is a Minneapolis Fed regional outreach director. Ron tracks current business conditions, with a focus on employment and wages, construction, real estate, consumer spending, and tourism. In this role, he networks with businesses in the Bank’s six-state region and gives frequent speeches on economic conditions. Follow him on Twitter @RonWirtz.
