Why do some hospitals’ reports contain partial or no data?
Some smaller hospitals may perform only a few of the most common services. For that reason, organizations have taken steps to protect patient confidentiality and to take into account small numbers in reporting data. The Texas Department of State Health Services excludes data for hospitals having very low volumes, such as fewer than 50 patients in a quarter or fewer than five patients of a particular gender. In addition, some hospitals in rural counties are not required to report their data. Hospital Compare does not include data for hospitals when the number of cases is too small to reliably predict hospital performance. Joint Commission has complete information only on hospitals that they accredit. Limited information is provided for non-accredited hospitals.
Currently, approximately 100 hospitals participate in the LHIN program. For those hospitals, all payer data is provided for the 100 most common inpatient services. For the hospitals that do not participate in the LHIN program, Medicare cost report and MedPAR data for the 100 most common inpatient and outpatient services is used. Because of this, hospitals that see limited number of Medicare patients may have incomplete data.
