The relationship provides shared access to robust longitudinal data to help refine U.S. News’ health equity methodology for its annual hospital rankings
Arlington, Va.—Sep 7, 2023 (BUSINESS WIRE)—CareJourney, the market leader in provider cost and quality data, today announced that it supported U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, in developing its 2023-2024 Best Hospitals rankings. As part of an ongoing collaboration between the two organizations, CareJourney enabled U.S. News’ refinement of its methodology for hospital-level measures of health equity and quantifying racial disparities in outcomes, including more patient-centered measures that quantify outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities.
CareJourney provided datasets that assisted U.S. News in updating its health equity methodologies. These datasets include information on neighborhood disadvantage among hospitals’ patient population as calculated by Area Deprivation Index (ADI) at the National level, a measure of the socioeconomic deprivation of a neighborhood, and a report on Health Equity Beneficiary Demographic data, which estimated the racial and ethnic demographics of the Medicare beneficiary population at the hospital service area (HSA) level. Data scientists at U.S. News used the data CareJourney provided in calculating measures of Health Equity that appear on thousands of publicly accessible hospital profiles found at usnews.com/hospitals.
To better understand the patient populations being treated by hospitals, the measure of neighborhood disadvantage among hospitals’ patient population uses ADI data for short-term acute care (STAC) stays by medical and surgical diagnostic-related groups (DRGs), a system to categorize patients with similar clinical diagnoses. CareJourney then calculated the percentage of patients with inpatient hospitalizations living in ZIP codes with greater than 70 ADI. These measures enabled U.S. News to see additional detail on each hospital’s patient populations based on their level of socioeconomic disadvantage, which was incorporated into the risk adjustment for the analysis of racial disparities in outcomes. CareJourney looks forward to working collaboratively with U.S. News to continuously improve the health equity measures, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) decision to embrace State ADI as well as the Healthy Days at Home measures.
“We are excited to support U.S. News’ efforts to measure health equity,” said Kevin Sheldon, chief operating officer at CareJourney. “We believe the datasets and expertise provided as part of our continued partnership will help create a clearer picture of how hospitals serve all communities and how care is delivered to everyone.”
“On behalf of the millions of healthcare consumers who use USNews.com, U.S. News appreciates CareJourney’s ongoing assistance in our efforts to measure hospitals’ performance on Health Equity,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News & World Report. “By shedding light on healthcare disparities, these performance metrics can help health systems identify and address gaps in equity.”
About CareJourney
CareJourney is trusted by more than 150 customers as the healthcare industry’s best source of provider cost and quality data, powered by AI, machine learning, data-driven physician taxonomies, 900+ chronic condition and procedure episodes, and a transparent methodology. CareJourney’s clinically relevant and actionable analytics enable organizations to build and grow networks, improve provider performance, identify network integrity, strengthen referrals, and better manage at-risk populations.
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About US News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives and communities. A multifaceted digital media company with Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News, Real Estate, Careers and 360 Reviews platforms, U.S. News provides rankings, independent reporting, data journalism, consumer advice and U.S. News Live events. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.