Health

28 HEALTH • November 30, 2015 PULSE Stats and information from the health care sector HIGH-PRICED HOSPITALS High-priced providers continue to draw significant patient volume, according to a September report from Attorney General Maura Healey. Here are the top five acute hospitals by percentage of discharges in 2013 along with their Blue Cross Blue Shield relative prices*. The average relative price for all commercial payers is 1.00. COMMERCIAL DISADVANTAGE The commercial prices acute hospitals command for services vary widely. Most Central Massachusetts hospitals fall below the 50th percentile for commercial pricing, according to CY 2014 data. Most are disproportionate share hospitals (DSH), which care for a large number of low-income patients. This puts them at a revenue disadvantage. Source: Center for Health Information & Analysis UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester 72nd percentile Y Athol Memorial Hospital 48th percentile Y Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester 48th percentile Y MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham 47th percentile N Harrington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge 44th percentile Y Clinton Hospital 42nd percentile Y HealthAlliance Hospital, Leominster 39th percentile Y Marlborough Hospital 38th percentile Y Nashoba Valley Medical Center, Ayer 37th percentile Y Milford Regional Medical Center 34th percentile N Heywood Hospital, Gardner 12th percentile Y HIGH-PRICED COMPARISONS Boston Children's Hospital 91st percentile N Massachusetts General Hospital 90th percentile N Commercial payer price, level by hospital ranking DSH from highest to lowest hospital Percentage Blue Cross of total Blue Shield relative Mass. discharges price, 2013 * Relative price is a metric that shows how providers are paid by commercial insurers compared to others. A relative price of 1.5 indicates a provider is paid one-and-a-half times the average rate. Source: Mass. Attorney General's Office MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham .................................................... Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester .................................................................... Milford Regional Medical Center ...................................................................... UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester ............................................... Heywood Hospital, Gardner ................................................................................ Harrington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge ............................................. STATE AVERAGE ......................................................................................................... Note: Some local hospitals declined to respond to the Leapfrog Survey or weren't included because they don't deliver babies. Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health The Massachusetts Department of Public Health found a small increase in inpatient psychiatric beds statewide between 2010 and 2014 but demand still far outpaces availability. The following were the number of Massachusetts inpatient psychiatric beds, by region, per 100,000 people in 2014. PSYCHIATRIC BEDS BY REGION Cesarean section can be a life-saving surgical intervention, for both mothers and babies. But the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists has determined that C-sections are too common in the U.S., and the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has set a target C-section rate of 23.9 percent by 2020. Here's where area hospital C-section rates stand today according to The Leapfrog Group's first report measuring C-section rates by hospital. Only pregnancies deemed low-risk were included in the report. CENTRAL MASS. C-SECTIONS 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 INPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC BEDS Western Mass. Central Mass. Northeast Metro- West Metro Boston Metro South South Coast Cape & Islands State 31 17 33 44 58 33 19 15 37 27.4% 27.4% 24.3% 21.5% 19.4% 14.3% 26.2% Partner's Brigham and Women's Hospital 9.57% 1.43 Partner's Massachusetts General Hospital 8.50% 1.43 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center 7.79% 1.23 UMass Memorial Medical Center 5.61% 1.16 South Shore Hospital 4.79% 1.07 The

• Cover