CO - Snafu in hospital numbers shows more patients paying

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Denver Health error throws off annual look at Colorado charges Amy Fletcher Denver Business Journal

A glitch in a computer program skewed key information in the Colorado Health and Hospital Association's recently released report on hospital charges and average length of stay.

At first glance, it appeared that last year 55 percent more people paid hospital bills in Colorado entirely out of their own pockets when compared with 2000.

But the growth in self-pay patients is probably relatively flat, according to revised estimates.

It appears a computer error shuffled all of Denver Health's admissions into the self-pay category, corrupting an entire chart of payer data for 2001. The chart lists the number of admitted patients according to who paid the bill -- Medicare, Medicaid, HMO or self.

The one-page chart appears to be the only mistake in the 278-page report.

"We need to have some quality control over it," said Denver Health CFO Frank Barrett. "I'm not going to point fingers. I'm responsible for data here so I'm going to set some processes up so I have someone signing off on the information."

Colorado Health and Hospital Association's report is one of the most comprehensive nationwide. It is based on information from a large database, which the association uses to compile financial and clinical information for nearly all the state's hospitals. The report is available in local libraries and can be purchased from the association for $100.

The association says to head off problems in the future, it has set up a number of reports that can be generated every time it receives data from hospitals. A large increase or decrease will set off a red flag.

"It should have been caught on our end," Colorado Health and Hospital Association spokeswoman Peg O'Keefe said. There are no plans to correct the information in the books.

A large portion of Denver Health's patients are covered by Medicaid, a state- and federally funded program for the poor. The hospital often lobbies the state Legislature to stop payment reductions in the program.

"It's a big deal if someone picked up the information and used it," Barrett said. "I just think it needs to be correct."

CHA's report also found:

Hospital admissions increased 3 percent in 2001 compared with a year earlier; while outpatient surgeries decreased nearly 1 percent.

Admissions related to pregnancy and childbirth are still the most common reason for being hospitalized.

Admissions related to respiratory diseases are among the fastest growing; asthma and bronchiolitis moved from the 17th-most common reason for admission in 2000 to the 11th in 2001. The trend was not as severe in metro Denver hospitals.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/07/15/story7.html

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2002


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