How to Use this Quality Report

The Tables

• Each table begins with a description of the disease and the hospital’s current action plan to continually improve patient care for the given disease.
• The colors throughout the table represent how Genesis Health System compares to the national data.
  • Green means that Genesis performs in the top 10% of the nation
  • Blue means that Genesis performs at or above the national average
  • Red means that Genesis performs below the national average and is working to improve on that  indicator
• For the hospital columns (left three columns) an NA means that there were no patients that fit into that category.  For example, if there is an NA within the “Percent of HF Patients Given Smoking Cessation Advice/Counseling” indicator, then there were no Heart Failure patients that smoked during that time period.  DeWitt has NA throughout the Acute Myocardial Infarction Indicators because it does not treat AMI patients. 
• An NA within the national columns (right two columns) shows up in every 6-month data row.  This happens because the national numbers have not yet been determined and publicly reported.  The number of patients on a national level is also not publicly available within any time period. 
• The top row of data for each indicator represents the most current year of data available at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. The second row of data is for the next 6 months of data after what is available on other Web sites. The Genesis Health System quality Web site provides the most up-to-date data, only available here. 
• The question marks to the side of each indicator gives the definition of that indicator and an explanation of the numbers if one is needed. The definition of the indicators can also be found in the Glossary, which has a link at the bottom of each table page and on the right hand tool bar.
• There is a graph link available for each indicator that takes you to the graph page.  The link will take you directly to the graph for the given indicator, but once on the graph page you can scroll to find the graphs of the other indicators from that data set. Hitting the back button or the data set name on the right tool bar will bring you back to the table page. 
• Remember when looking at the number of patients that the first row represents a year worth of data and the second row represents 6 months.  Also, note that some diseases vary depending on the season.  Pneumonia, for example, will have more patients from October through March then April through September. 
• The data within the tables is updated every 3 months.

The Graphs

• You get to the graphs by clinking a “View Graph” link on the table.  Once in the graph page, you can scroll through to find the graph of each indicator within that data set. The graphs are in the same order as the table.
• The left, red-striped bars correspond to the data for the hospital and the right two bars represent the national data.  The green bar shows the national average and the blue bar displays the top 10% of the nation. 
• The bars represent the most current year of data that is available at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. The orange dots represent the most recent 6 months of data that is only available at this Web site. 
• The horizontal dashed line that is level with the national average bar helps compare Genesis Health System to the national average.  If the hospital bar is above the green dashed line, then Genesis preformed higher than the national average in the past year.  If the orange dot is above the green dashed line, then Genesis preformed better than the national average in the most recent 6 months of data. 
• The horizontal dashed line that is level with the national top 10% shows how Genesis Health System compares to the national top 10%.  If the hospital bar is above the blue dashed line, then Genesis preformed higher than the national top 10% in the past year.  If the orange dot is above the blue dashed line, then Genesis preformed better than the national top 10% in the most recent 6 months of data.
• The graphs are updated every 3 months.