UnitedHealthcare Releases Its First-Ever Report Card on Hospital Quality and Affordability

UnitedHealthcare, the health plan subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, has released its first-ever report card that rates quality of care and affordability among 20 of its contracted hospitals throughout Colorado.

The report rates the hospitals by measuring 150 medical procedures, including colon surgery, treatment of pneumonia, viral infection and chest pain, cesarean section, disc surgery, knee and hip replacement, and obesity procedures. Each procedure’s quality rating is based on patient volume, complication and mortality rates, failure to rescue or death from complications, ICU physician staffing, and computer-assisted order entry.

“As quality and cost variation in the health care system continues to increase, especially among hospitals, practicing physicians need resources and tools to make more informed decisions for their patients,” said Jay Ogsbury, M.D., a neurosurgeon and co-medical director of Colorado Preferred Physician Organization. “The information included in UnitedHealthcare’s Hospital Report Card is a great first step in making health care quality and cost more transparent for the physician community.”