Abstract: PO1088
The Correlated Case of Dialysis Facility and Hospital Star Ratings
Session Information
- Hemodialysis and Frequent Dialysis - 2
October 22, 2020 | Location: On-Demand
Abstract Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Category: Dialysis
- 701 Dialysis: Hemodialysis and Frequent Dialysis
Authors
- Weinhandl, Eric D., Chronic Disease Research Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- Gilbertson, David T., Chronic Disease Research Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- Wetmore, James B., Chronic Disease Research Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- Johansen, Kirsten L., Chronic Disease Research Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Background
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS) periodically releases star ratings for several types of health care facilities, including acute care hospitals and outpatient dialysis facilities. Because respective rating systems utilize disparate quality measures, star ratings of dialysis facilities and nearby hospitals may be weakly correlated. However, hospital quality could influence dialysis patient outcomes. Furthermore, confounding by unmeasured economic, environmental, and social factors could induce correlation. We used public use files to assess whether star ratings of dialysis facilities and hospitals within the same region are correlated.
Methods
We ascertained dialysis facility star ratings from Dialysis Facility Compare and hospital star ratings from Hospital Compare (source: data.medicare.gov). Star ratings were based on quality measures that were accumulated in 2015-2018. We categorized each health care facility into 306 Hospital Referral Regions (HRRs), according to ZIP code. In each HRR, we estimated the mean star rating of all dialysis facilities and the mean star rating of all hospitals. Using loess regression, we estimated the correlation between these HRR-specific means.
Results
The analysis included 6667 dialysis facilities and 3565 hospitals, or approximately 22 dialysis facilities and 12 hospitals per HRR. The mean star rating in dialysis facilities was 3.7 (standard deviation, 1.0) and 3.2 (1.1) in hospitals. As displayed, HRR-specific mean star ratings of dialysis facilities and hospitals were positively and nearly linearly correlated. The correlation coefficient of these HRR-specific means was 0.4.
Conclusion
CMS star ratings of dialysis facilities and hospitals within the same region are positively correlated. Future studies should identify the sources of this correlation.