Neighborhood Disadvantage and Hospital Quality Ratings in the Medicare Hospital Compare Program.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provide nationwide hospital ratings that may influence reimbursement. These ratings do not account for the social risk of communities and may inadvertently penalize hospitals that service disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Objective

This study examines the relationship between neighborhood social risk factors (SRFs) and hospital ratings in Medicare's Hospital Compare Program.

Research design

2017 Medicare Hospital Compare ratings were linked with block group data from the 2015 American Community Survey to assess hospital ratings as a function of neighborhood SRFs.

Subjects

A total of 3608 Medicare-certified hospitals in 50 US states.

Measures

Hospital summary scores and 7 quality group scores (100 perce

SUBMITTER: Fahrenbach J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7171595 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature