Core measures provide national standards for evaluating patient care

Valley West Community Hospital tracks and evaluates numerous patient care practices that are known as “best practices” because they are associated with improved patient outcomes. About 30 of these are known as “Core Measures.”  Core Measures, representing best practices in treatment, prevention and patient education are bundled together in four categories: Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Pneumonia and Surgical Site Infection Prevention.

Our Core Measure data, along with every other hospital that accepts Medicare, is publicly reported on the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) “Hospital Compare” website. This standardized reporting can help consumers learn more about the hospitals they choose for their care.

Below, click on “table” or “graph” to see how Valley West Hospital is performing on each of the measures included in the category.

KEY:	majority of measures at or above average
	same number of measures at/above average and below average
	majority of measures below average
	no patients

Core Measures	Meets or Exceeds IL Average	Meets or Exceeds US Average	View As
Heart Attack			Table or Graph
Heart Failure			Table or Graph
Pneumonia			Table or Graph
Surgical Infection Prevention			Table or Graph

National database has limitations

A national hospital performance database is published at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. The data you see on this government web site represents 12 consecutive months of data reflecting patient care that was provided anywhere from 9 months to nearly 2 years ago, depending on how often DHHS updates the website.

As a service to our consumers, Valley West Hospital is committed to sharing the most current core measure data which is included in the table above. 

Each core measure category includes several indicators for maximizing positive patient outcomes. 

How Valley West uses the data

Collecting, analyzing and reporting core measure data not only helps consumers learn about our performance, these actions provide continual feedback to physicians and Valley West clinical staff as we strive to provide the right care for every patient every time.