Time is running short for California hospitals to submit their inaugural Hospital Equity Measures Report, as legislation passed in 2021 mandates that the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) receive the reports by Sept. 30.
With the deadline just weeks away, the online reporting portal is now open and HCAI is prepared to receive reports. The requirements are complex, with two sections: an equity report with multiple data points and an equity plan with measures to reduce disparities and other information.
For hospitals concerned with meeting the Sept. 30 deadline, a 60-day extension is available. According to HCAI, the extension request will be instantly approved, and new due dates will be automatically updated.
And for hospitals that would like support to comply with this new requirement, there’s still time to take advantage of the Hospital Quality Institute’s (HQI’s) automated reporting solution, which streamlines the data submission process considerably.
The automated solution can help save time and money — especially for hospitals that already participate in the Hospital Quality Improvement Platform. As of early September, more than half of California hospitals are engaged with HQI’s automated reporting system, which:
- Provides an HCAI-compliant report in a ready-to-upload format (>95% complete)
- Integrates data from existing sources to avoid custom data pulls for your team
- Prepares core measures based on tested algorithms and integrating structural measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Stratifies by all variables possible based on the source data
- Builds the pre-filled numerators, denominators, rates, and rate ratios
- Applies the required California Department of Health and Human Services Data De-Identification Guidelines
- Identifies hospitals’ top 10 disparities and provides a template for the 10 fields hospitals must supply
- Creates the comma-separated variable (.csv) file formatted as required for upload to HCAI
- Provides access to HQI’s expert support team to help with finalizing your report
If you think your organization could benefit from HQI’s support, reach out directly to hqianalytics@hqinstitute.org.
