What is an publicly available online source of national comparative data on use of healthcare resources?

The Pediatric Health Information System® (PHIS) is a comparative database with clinical and resource utilization data for inpatient, ambulatory surgery, emergency department (ED) and observation unit encounters for more than 49 children's hospitals. The PHIS database supports a wide range of improvement activities, including: 

  • Clinical effectiveness 
  • Resource utilization
  • Care guideline development 
  • Readmission analysis 
  • Antimicrobial stewardship
  • Physician profiling (OPPE) and more. 

Data from PHIS is useful in identifying areas to improve clinical care, enhance financial outcomes, improve clinical documentation and perform research. 

Features 

  • Data: Patient abstract, diagnoses (ICD-9/10), procedures, billed transactions and utilization
  • Patient types: Inpatient, observation, ambulatory surgery and ED
  • Transparency: Unblinded hospital ID with ability to blind local competitors 

Reporting

PHIS provides executive-level reports to highlight trends based on key children's hospital metrics. Drill-down capability allows for identification of improvement opportunities. PHIS has more than 100 standard reports and ad-hoc reporting capability. 

National Data and Statistics

  • Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)

    Sponsored by the CDC and other federal agencies, BRFSS collects self-reported data on health behaviors, chronic conditions, and use of preventative services.

  • Directory of Research & Statistics (HHS)

    Directory to research, data sources, and statistics from all operating divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Diseases, Risks & Vital Statistics (CDC)

    Maps, graphs, and tables by state and year for many diseases, risk factors, and vital statistics.

  • Downloadable Health Datasets (HealthData.gov)

    Downloadable datasets on health, inpatient health care, health care quality, and geographic data on health and health care.

  • Health Services Data & Reports (HSRIC)

    Directory of reports and downloadable datasets on health services topics, including health economics, health policy, health informatics, health literacy, electronic health records, quality, comparative effectiveness research, and domestic violence.

  • National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)

    Data visualization, searchable statistics, and interactive queries on health and health care.

  • National Health Safety Network

    Surveillance reports published by CDC using data from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Reports are organized by topic, and include summaries of healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial use and resistance, healthcare personnel influenza vaccination rates, and dialysis events.

  • National Surveys & Data Systems (HHS)

    An annotated directory of all surveys and data sources available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from the following agencies: CDC, NIH, HRSA, CMS, AHRQ, SAMHSA

  • PHPartners

    Collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations, and health sciences libraries whose focus is to encourage collaboration and organize health information resources for use by public health professionals encourage collaboration and organize health information resources for use by public health professionals

  • Public Datasets by Topic (SGIM)

    Directory of publicly available datasets categorized by topic(s), including health system, medical education, health behaviors, access, costs, health status, and health care.

  • Statista

    Graphs and tables on health, the global pharmaceutical industry, environmental services (such as wastewater treatment and waste management), demographics, employment, poverty, the tobacco industry, gambling, and fitness in the U.S., plus many industries and aspects of society. Reports also available by country. Statista is a subscription service available to Dartmouth students and employees.

  • U.S. Public Health Databases (CDC)

    Interactive queries of CDC databases for public health, including chronic conditions, communicable diseases, environmental health, behavior & health, prevention, injury prevention, health promotion, and occupational health.

  • U.S. Public Health Issues (Surgeon General)

    Reports by the U.S. Surgeon General of the Public Health Service.

  • Health & Care by State (Kaiser)

    Tables, maps, and graphs of health status and aspects of health care, insurance coverage, and health policy by state.

  • Health Care Variation (Dartmouth Atlas)

    Interactive queries and downloadable datasets about health care, including care of surgical conditions, prescription drug use, hospital use, and hospital and physician capacity by state and locality.

  • Maine (Maine CDC)

    Data and reports on chronic diseases, behavioral risk factors, chronic diseases, injuries, environmental factors, and oral health in the state.

  • Massachusetts Population Health Statistics

    For the state: Healthy People Leading Indicators, Population Information, Regional Health Status Indicators, Race and ethnicity Reports, Smoking Reports.

  • New Hampshire (NH HHS)

    Interactive dashboards, community profiles and brief reports on health behaviors, chronic diseases, infectious diseases, environmental health, immunizations, Medicaid usage, and emergency department visits in the state.

  • Outcomes & Determinants (Health Rankings)

    Graphs, maps, tables, and downloadable datasets on health outcomes and determinants of health by state.

  • Spending by State and County (CMS)

    Interactive dashboards for standardized Medicare spending by state and county.

  • Vermont Department of Health

    Access to public health data, news, and resources pertaining to healthcare in Vermont

Local Data and Statistics

  • City Health Dashboard

    36 measures of health for the 500 largest cities in the USA

  • County Health Outcomes & Factors (CHRankings)

    Statistics at the county level on factors such as:
    quality of life, health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment

  • Rural Data Explorer

    View statistics for metro and nonmetro counties and see a county’s metropolitan classification.

  • U.S. Census Bureau

    The American Fact Finder provides statistics from both the Census and the American community by: state, county, city, town, zip code, census tract.

Health Spending, Utilization, and Quality of Care

  • Cost & quality of care (NH HealthCost)

    After inputting an insurance company, plan type, deductible, and co-insurance, displays estimated total cost for facilities and professionals in New Hampshire. Compare costs for medical procedures, dental procedures, prescriptions, and lab tests. Also, quality indicators for all New Hampshire hospitals and health insurance costs for employers.

  • Diffusion of Procedures (Dartmouth Institute)

    Publicly available source of data providing researchers, payers, regulators, and innovators with metrics quantifying the temporal and regional patterns of health care spending and utilization, particularly with regard to the diffusion and exnovation of medical interventions.

  • Healthcare Cost & Utilization (HCUPnet)

    Graphs and tables on hospital stays (overall and by payer and by state), mental health hospitalizations, readmissions, ambulatory surgeries, emergency department use, and quality improvement indicators.

  • Hospital Ownership & Expenses (AHA)

    Graphs and counts including the number of registered hospitals in the U.S. by ownership type, plus number of beds, admissions, and expenses.

  • Hospital Services & Financials (AHD)

    Hospital profiles including key characteristics, services provided, utilization statistics, accreditation status, and financial information. Statistics by hospital, state, and nation, including bed size, discharges, patient days, and gross patient revenue.

  • Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)

    Directory of research, statistics, data and systems. Topics include chronic conditions, program rates and statistics, actuarial studies, and financing.

  • Nonprofit Hospital Study (IRS)

    This 2009 study focused on community benefit provided by U.S. nonprofit hospitals (500 in all) consistent with rules for federal tax exemption: patient insurance mix, uncompensated care (charity care and bad debt), and CEO compensation.

  • Policy, Costs & Payment (Kaiser)

    Graphics, interactives, and reports on topics including disparities policy, health care costs, health care reform, insurance (including the uninsured), and U.S. commitment to global health policy. Click the "Menu" icon at the upper left

  • ProPublica Health Data Sets

    Health data sets from ProPublica on a variety of measures; prescriber information, hospital analyses, clinical trial data, and more. Some are freely available and others are behind a paywall.

  • Quality Measures by Hospital (CMS)

    Compare hospitals on patient experience, timely and effective care, complication rates, readmissions and deaths, use of medical imaging, payment and value of care. Compare up to 3 hospitals in a single view online or download the entire database for 4000 hospitals.

  • Variation in Spending, Utilization & Quality (CMS)

    File downloads on demographics, spending, utilization, and quality indicators for Medicare's fee-for-service population, by state, hospital referral region (HRR) and county.

Food and Drug Data

  • Drugs, Devices & Foods (FDA)

    Interactive queries of OpenFDA, covering food recalls and adverse events, product labeling, and recall enforcement for both drugs and devices. Datasets are also available for download.

  • Pharmaceutical Industry (Census Bureau ISP)

    Directory to 13 data sources related to U.S. pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing industries.

What are sources of data in healthcare?

The main sources of health statistics are surveys, administrative and medical records, claims data, vital records, surveillance, disease registries, and peer-reviewed literature. We'll take a look into these sources, and the pros and cons of using each to create health statistics.

What are some of the key data sources used to measure quality of care?

Data used to assess healthcare quality are available from many sources, including administrative data, claims data, patient medical records①, electronic clinical data, registries, standardized patient assessments, patient - reported data and surveys, and chief complaint data.

What is a source of information on the current state of healthcare quality in the United States?

For the 20th year in a row, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has reported on healthcare quality and disparities.

What are three major external users of healthcare data?

-External users are individuals and or institutions outside of the facility state, local government, and research facilities.