Texans deserve the best care at a good price.

6 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.

Measuring Hospital Quality using CMS

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.

Death rate for heart attack patients within 30 days. This reflects how well hospitals provide care to life-threatening cases. Lower rates are better.

1. Mortality

2. Safety

Central-Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI) is an example of a healthcare-associated infection. This assesses how well hospitals are kept clean and medical equipment are kept sterile. A score of 0 is best and indicates no infections occurred.

3. Readmission

The rate of individuals who were discharged from the hospital, and have to return unexpectedly within 30 days. Higher quality care should prevent people from returning to the hospital. Lower numbers are better.

4. Satisfaction

5. timely care

Measures what a patient would rank their hospital on a scale of 0 (lowest score) to 10 (highest score) and would recommend their hospital to family or friends. Patients should feel they had a good experience with their health care providers.

The percentage of ER patients who left before seeing a healthcare professional is an example of how quickly hospitals are able to respond during emergencies. Lower percentages are better.

Why we used CMS Quality Measures:

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.

CMS Overall Star Hospital Rating Homepage

Hospital Finances: Capacity, Prices and Revenue

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.

Provides a snapshot of each hospital’s profit status, system affiliation, location, patient capacity and yearly activity levels.

Hospital size
& capacity

Revenue & profits

Highlights hospital charges, revenues, operational prices, income from patient care, total net income, profit margins and profit from patient care.

Hospital size
& capacity

Patient Payer Mix

Analyzes each hospital’s mix of patients commercial versus public insurance, such as Medicaid and Medicare to illustrate variation in pricing.

rand 5.0 price

commercial
breakeven

Prices paid for inpatient and outpatient services based on medical claims data by private health plans. Ratio of prices paid divided by the Medicare allowed amount.

Represents the percentage of Medicare rates a hospital would need to charge commercial payers to break even across all payer types.

Revenue & profits

Patient Payer Mix

rand 5.0 price

commercial breakeven

Why we used NASHP Financial Data:

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.

Quality & Price Comparison

Our dashboard compares CMS and NASHP data to assess the price of quality care.

Hospital Value-Comparing Quality and Price

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.