Tuesday, January 06, 2015

New transparency website from WSHA

I always love hearing from my buddy Beth Zborowski at the Washington State Hospital Association.  That organization and its members have been at the forefront of transparency for years, and they keep pushing the envelope.

Here's her latest note:

I wanted to share with you WSHA's new quality transparency website and would welcome your feedback: http://www.wahospitalquality.org.  

We've organized the site to provide relevant information to services patients (or their loved ones might be seeking.) For example, in the past, someone going in for surgery might only look at the specific measures related to their type of surgery, but may not think to look at other relevant or overall quality indicators, like CAUTI.  

We've included data along with a visual indicator highlighting the "opportunity gap" between performance and the goal for each metric. Another new addition is the inclusion of tips for patients when they're going to the hospital. In feedback from consumers so far, this visualization takes a little trying to get, but they appreciate having both the number and some kind of visual indication of performance. We're working on a clearer widget for the next version of the site. (We're committed to expanding and improving the site, this isn't intended to be a launch it and forget it project.)  

I would love to hear what you think.

So, please check it out and post comments here or send them directly to BethZ [at] wsha [dot] org.
at

3 comments:

  1. Joanne Roberts, MD, MHAJanuary 06, 2015 8:00 AM

    I will jump in.

    I am the CMO at one of Washington's largest hospitals, and I applaud WSHA for continuing to push us toward becoming a more transparent industry.

    As we look forward in our journey, we aim to report our data in more real-time fashion. All hospitals are mobilizing rapidly these days, and 2012 data may not reflect what is happening today.

    But again, this is a great start, and it is definitely moving us all in the right direction.

    Thanks to Carol Wagner and Scott Bond at WSHA for their leadership.

    Joanne Roberts, MD

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nancy ThomasJanuary 06, 2015 8:25 AM

    You would think a small state like RI could manage to do this...but it seems insurmountable problems to get it done. If they want to arm patients with information to be "informed purchasers of their own healthcare" - than THIS is the type of information we need - as much as what things cost. Thanks for sharing....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Beth ZborowskiJanuary 07, 2015 3:43 PM

    Nancy, I'm curious, beyond combining cost and quality data to get to value information (which we would love to get to!), do you have ideas for how we could make the site better for consumers? I would love your feedback. Thanks Dr. Roberts for the kind words!

    ReplyDelete