Valued Voice

Wisconsin’s hospitals continue to score high marks for quality according to WHA’s 2022 Quality Report released this week. Among other metrics, the number of hospitals receiving four- or five-star ratings by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) overall star ratings program exceeds the national average by over 20 percentage points. Sixty four percent of Wisconsin hospitals received a four- or five-star rating, compared to 43% of hospitals nationally.
 
“Hospitals demonstrated their focus to reduce preventable hospital admissions and readmissions, reduce the occurrence of adverse health care infections, and reduce overall patient harm—all of which are at the cornerstone of high-quality patient care in Wisconsin,” said WHA Chief Quality Officer Nadine Allen.

“This year’s WHA Quality Report demonstrates the long-standing commitment of Wisconsin’s hospitals to providing high-quality, patient-centered care while improving access to care for patients and addressing the need to reduce and eliminate health care disparities,” Allen added.
 
Included in WHA’s Quality Report are aggregate data for Wisconsin hospitals relative to quality programs and measures administered by CMS. Through its Value-Based Purchasing Program, Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program and Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, CMS aims to improve the care provided by the nation’s hospitals and link Medicare payments to health care quality in the inpatient setting. Year after year, Wisconsin hospitals continue to advance their clinical outcome practices in all three of these programs, focusing on patient-centered care.

“Wisconsin hospitals and health systems have been pioneers in quality measurement and have long shared safety and quality data with the public,” said WHA President and CEO Eric Borgerding. “While managing challenging COVID and non-COVID patient care demands, Wisconsin hospitals remained committed to quality improvement activities alongside WHA that sustains and improves the high-quality health care that Wisconsin is known for.”

In addition to CMS data, WHA’s Quality Report draws upon the association’s own publicly accessible CheckPoint reporting system, which provides both consumers and health care quality users objective information on measurable safety and quality standards for health care providers in the state. Every Wisconsin hospital voluntarily reports data to CheckPoint, which currently includes more than 40 measures of quality. The public, transparent reporting of the measures allows these hospitals to proactively drive quality initiatives that are so important for improving patient safety.

The 2022 WHA Quality Report tracks quality improvement collaborations, initiatives and outcomes throughout the state, focused on topics ranging from reducing readmissions and falls to preventing health care-associated infections. It also features a showcase of successful quality improvement projects from Wisconsin hospitals during the past year.
 
WHA’s complete 2022 Quality Report is available here.