VA quality data released to public on CMS Hospital Compare website Published Aug. 5, 2011 WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers are now included in the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Hospital Compare website, which measures hospital quality based on what matters most to patients, the outcomes of care. "VA is committed to providing veterans and their family members with a transparent accounting of the quality and safety of its health care system," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "In collaborating with CMS, we show our determination to be open and accountable to veterans and their families." Release of outcomes data to the public is not new for VA. Mortality and readmission results were first posted in 2010 on the VA Hospital Compare website using a similar method limited only to VA patients. VA results posted on VA's site are updated quarterly and will not match the results on CMS Hospital Compare, which are only updated annually and lag about year. CMS officials are reporting 30-day measures for three common and high-cost conditions -- acute myocardial infarction, or AMI; heart failure, or HF; and pneumonia -- to the public through their website, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. This year they are reporting results for patients treated in VA's health care system. The inclusion of VA data on CMS Hospital Compare is indicative of VA's commitment to transparency, accountability and quality. Annual reporting on these measures furthers the goal of measuring and rewarding quality as a strategy for improving health care outcomes for veterans and for patients overall. Results of VA medical centers' risk-adjusted mortality and readmission are available to the public on the CMS Hospital Compare Web site. Veterans, stakeholders and the general public will be able to directly compare the mortality rates and readmission rates at individual VA medical centers against non-VA hospitals for AMI, HF and pneumonia. The cases reported are from July 2007 through June 2010 for approximately 4,530 non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals, including critical access hospitals, and for Indian Health Services hospitals.