How to Use The Quality Reports

The Maryland Health Care Quality Reports’ website lets you know how well health care providers are doing.  The homepage features health care topics that may be of interest to you. You can click on the caption below the picture or chart for more information. The following topics are covered under Quality Reports:

Consumer Ratings
Preventing Infections
Health Care Costs
Health Care Workers Influenza (Flu) Vaccinations

This website has five main sections that cover information about hospitals, physicians, long-term care, health plans, and surgical centers. Click on a section for more information.

The Guide includes a broad range of performance and quality information for each Maryland hospital.  The information can be used to better understand the performance of a specific hospital or to compare the performance of several hospitals on a topic of interest.  The following options are available on the Hospital Guide:

Find a hospital- search for a specific hospital or see which hospitals are nearby.


Browse Health Topics- Find detailed information on a variety of health and medical topics reported on the Quality Reports site.


Consumer rating- see how well a hospital was rated by patients who were treated at the hospital.


Emergency care data- view the average ER wait times before treatment or admission to a hospital.


Infections data- view data on bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, Clostridium difficile infections, and percentage of healthcare personnel vaccinated for the flu.


Quality measures- review your hospital’s performance on a variety of evidence-based metrics related to topics such as cardiac care, surgical care, and patient safety.

Maternity and newborn measures- review your hospital’s performance on practice patterns and results of care.

Price transparency- identify the most common medical conditions and average charges by hospital.

This section includes a feature for finding a physician by name, medical condition, or location. (Please note that only physicians who currently accept Medicare payment are included in this search feature.) The section also highlights several resources available to consumers who want information on physicians in Maryland including a link to the Board of Physicians and CMS’ Physician Compare. A consumer checklist document is provided as a tool to help consumers plan for a visit with a doctor.

The Maryland Guide to Long Term Care Services helps consumers understand the spectrum of services available including services that can be provided in their home (home health services), community (adult day care, senior centers), or in facilities such as assisted living and nursing homes. You can find a nursing home by name, location, or overall rating. There is also a Quick Compare feature that shows quality ratings for all nursing homes.  

The Guide includes a broad range of information such as:

• types of clinical and assistance services provided,

• agency accreditation or certification,

• cost per day information for adult day care, assisted living residences and nursing homes,

• federal and state quality measures,

• consumer ratings of care for each nursing home,

• photos of nursing homes and assisted living facilities with directions to the facilities,

• a services search section helps consumers locate and compare Maryland long-term care services: nursing homes, assisted-living residences, home health agencies, adult day care facilities, and hospice programs. Users can sort by county to find services near their home, and

• a resource section includes links to federal, state, and local websites to assist in answering questions about  prescription drugs, legal resources for seniors and persons with disabilities; resources for family caregivers, and  availability of transportation services.

Use the link that follows to go directly to the LTC Guide:

http://mhcc.maryland.gov/consumerinfo/longtermcare/Default.aspx

Consumer Rating Of Care Received Is Based on Federal and State Surveys of Patients and Families

The Guide to Long Term Care Services includes results of three Experience of Care surveys including: patients receiving home health services, nursing home services for short stay residents, and family members of long stay nursing home residents. A hospice experience of care survey is planned for 2016.

For more information on the Maryland Consumer Guide to Long Term Care, please contact Theressa Lee, Director,  Center for Quality Measurement and Reporting, 410 764-3328 ([email protected])

MHCC uses reliable, audited, and standardized measures and indicators with the results disseminated in two reports for use by individual consumers, families, employers, and employees when choosing a health plan. Following is a brief description of the commercial health benefit plan quality reports:

MHCC's annual Consumer Edition, Quality Report: Comparing the Performance of Maryland's Commercial Health Benefit Plans, provides frequently requested information from the Comprehensive Quality Report to help Marylanders select a health benefit plan that's right for them. The report includes a description of the available delivery systems, health plans available by carrier with contact information, information on Maryland’s racial composition and languages spoken, carrier specific information on the number of physicians by specialty by county including information on board certification, and member satisfaction with the quality of health care service delivery. The report also includes helpful information on five chronic diseases that lead to increased health care costs and valuable information on accessing various consumer resources.

MHCC's annual Comprehensive Quality Report includes detailed information on health benefit plan performance for an extensive list of quality measures and indicators. Additional helpful information targeted for consumers and for State employees and retirees is also included in the report.
 
For more information on Health Plans, please contact Theressa Lee, Director, Center for Quality Measurement and Reporting, 410 764-3328   ([email protected])

The Ambulatory Surgery Facility Consumer Guide provides general information on ambulatory surgery facilities in Maryland. You can search for a facility by name, zip code or medical specialty.

For more information on the Ambulatory Surgery Facility Guide, please contact Christine Parent, Program Manager, 410 764-3834 ([email protected])