California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development

This Web-based report provides a closer examination of some of the trends in utilization and financing from long-term care (LTC) facilities from 2003-2007 in order to provide a better understanding of this facet of the healthcare system. Long-Term Care (LTC) generally refers to a variety of health and human services programs for persons with physical or mental conditions who need care for an extended period of time. OSHPD collects, reports, and publishes Annual Utilization and Annual Financial Disclosure data on LTC facilities licensed by the California Department of Public Health. Long-Term care services can be delivered in a variety of settings ranging from homes, to certain outpatient or day care facilities, to residential care homes, and ultimately to skilled nursing facilities. This report’s data focuses on three types of LTC facilities - Skilled Nursing Facilities (Freestanding), Intermediate Care Facilities, and Congregate Living Facilities.

"Readmissions to California Hospitals, 2005 to 2006" is the third in OSHPD's Health Facts series reporting on healthcare in California. Using OSHPD's hospital patient discharge data, the brief profiles readmissions among California hospital patients first admitted to the hospital in 2005. More than one-third of the 1.7 million patients had at least one readmission during the 365 days following discharge. The brief covers patterns in readmissions related to patient age, race and ethnicity; who is paying for the hospital care; the patients' diagnosis at first admission to the hospital and where in the state the hospitalization occurs. Additionally, the brief shows how much readmissions add to the total bill for Medicare, Medi-Cal and other payers.

Senate Bill 1953 (SB 1953) requires hospitals that have buildings that are considered hazardous and at risk of collapse or significant loss of life in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster must be replaced or retrofitted to higher seismic safety standards by 2013, or later with an approved extension. A slide presentation of OSHPD's testimony on Hospital Seismic Safety before the California Senate Health Committee on Februrary 17, 2010 is now available at the above links.

New Regulations Require Hospitals to Report Medical Adverse Event Data Beginning January 1, 2010 - Hospitals licensed by California Department of Public Health must report Emergency Department, Ambulatory Surgery, and Inpatient data about external cause of patient injuries, including never events (such as surgery on the wrong-body part, and adverse drug reactions). This will provide greater transparency about the quality of the State's healthcare services.

Since 1990, hospitals have reported other external causes of injury codes (called E-codes) to OSHPD. The expanded collection of E-codes will help public health officials, public policymakers, health researchers and others determine the prevalence of such injuries, and develop effective strategies to minimize their occurrence in order to reduce any harm caused or cost associated with these injuries.

“MRSA Infections in California Hospital Patients, 1999 to 2007” is the second in the Health Facts series, reporting on healthcare in California. It uses OSHPD's hospital patient discharge data to describe trends and patterns related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection among California hospital patients, 1999-2007. The percent of S. aureus infection cases that were resistant to antibiotic treatment are shown in relation to patients’ ages, race/ethnicity, and whether they came to the hospital from home or from another healthcare setting. It also compares resistant (MRSA) and non-resistant cases in terms of their hospital costs, hospital length of stay and 30-mortality rates.

These reports provide seismic compliance status information for Acute Care Hospitals that have SPC-1 Buildings.

Common Surgeries and Charges Comparison is a new Web tool allowing healthcare consumers to view and compare the price of common elective inpatient procedures at hospitals across California.