Today
we launch our new AZ Hospital Compare website which (for the first time) provides an online searchable database to help Arizonans make educated decisions about their healthcare. The new website will allow patients and their families to explore the care and outcomes, costs and charges of Arizona’s licensed hospitals. The transparency that the site provides regarding outcomes will no doubt improve hospital performance as well.
For example, expectant mothers will be able to look for a hospital that excels in uncomplicated newborn deliveries or lower C-section rates. Patients planning a knee replacement or shoulder surgery can learn how much they would be charged at one hospital versus another and find out how hospitals compare when it comes to healthcare associated infections from surgeries. The online tool also helps healthcare professionals, policy makers, and legislators to develop and implement important health policies and best practice guidelines that will increase the quality of health care, while reducing costs.
The site uses data from 2011 inpatient discharges collected from all Arizona licensed hospitals. The website contains complete supporting documentation on the methodology used and integrated processes like the quality indicators and the cost-to-charge ratios. This website has the potential to be a positive step towards transparency in Arizona hospital care.
This is excellent news! Thank you for launching this site. As a childbirth educator, we teach informed consent to our students. This will be a great tool to help them evaluate if they can expect to get the support they want for their birth choices at different care facilities around the state.
I wander if you plan on giving positive information out about midwifery, and how they excel in uncomplicated births and have a lower rate of needed c-sections than hospitals. How the midwife to patient care far exceeds that of a hospital birth. Are we going to let expectant mothers know about all options or are we going to leave that out as to not inform mothers of their rights and choices. Are you going to talk about how homebirths cost substantialy less than hospital births while being able to choose how and where they want to birth. These are all reasonable questions as the number 1 priority should be to inform mom on all options and to ensure the saftey of mom and baby, I believe the midwives are asked to inform the mothers of all options and risks, so should the hospital. All option, All of them.