7 in 10 Texans have skipped or delayed medical care because of what they might pay. Those who do pay are spending more than ever.
We set out to determine whether higher health care prices in Texas actually reflect better quality. We found that paying more in health care prices does not always mean you get a better value.
Explore our dashboards to see how Austin area hospitals compare on popular quality and price measures.
Hospitals report their data to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) each year and are graded in the 5 key areas of quality listed below. Each of the 5 measures of quality are consolidated into a single overall rating each year called the CMS Overall Star Rating. Higher CMS Overall Star ratings mean better quality.
CMS has the most comprehensive and publicly available dataset collected nationwide on hospital quality and includes all hospitals registered with Medicare. Data is collected, analyze and published on an annual basis.
Our dashboard uses data from The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) to analyze Texas hospital finances based on their size, patient populations they serve and the variation in prices of services.
NASHP annually updates a publicly available dashboard and interactive tool that highlights data filed by hospitals to the Federal Government (CMS) in annual Medicare Cost Reports. NASHP analyzes these reports from 5,000 hospitals nationwide, and provides key financial metrics in the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind. The source data is reliable because it is filed by the hospitals themselves. NASHP’s analysis includes unique measures not found anywhere else.
Our dashboard compares CMS and NASHP data to assess the price of quality care.
This measure compares each hospital’s quality rating with its pricing, shown as a percentage of Medicare rates. Hospitals offering the best value, where price and quality meet, appear in the top right of the chart, where quality is at its highest and prices are at their lowest.
