CWCI Member Exclusive: Updated Inpatient Hospital Utilization Application and Interactive Research Report

CWCI has completed the latest update to our interactive Inpatient Hospital Utilization Application which now includes inpatient hospital discharge data for CY 2012 through CY 2023 compiled by the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI). Among other things, the application allows CWCI members to:

• track and compare changes in the volume of inpatient hospitalizations paid under California workers’ compensation, Medicare, Medi-Cal, and private coverage since 2012

• quantify the number of discharges for each of the payor groups that involved specific inpatient diagnosis-related group codes (MS-DRGs) and Major Diagnostic Categories (MDCs)

• determine the average charged amounts for each payor group for inpatient MS-DRGs and MDCs

• measure changes in the average length of stay and the volume of implant-eligible spinal surgeries

• monitor changes in the proportion of spinal fusion MS-DRG discharges to total discharges across time for each payer group

• rank the top hospitals in California based on injured workers as a percentage of their total inpatient discharges

The Inpatient Hospital Utilization Application is available to CWCI members on our website (www.cwci.org). Once you are logged on, use the drop-down menu under the Research tab at the top of the home page and click “Interactive Research Tools,” then scroll down to the “Inpatient Hospital Utilization” and click that title. This will open the initial tab, “Measures by Discharge Year and Payor.” Clicking the second tab (“% by County”) at the top of the screen will open the regional data, presented in a series of heat maps. Clicking the third tab at the top of the screen (“by Hospital”) will open the hospital-specific results. All three tabs include a series of filters that allow users to select different metrics and change the exhibits, allowing them to build customized views.   

The Institute has also prepared an Interactive Research Report to provide a refresher on how the Inpatient Hospital Utilization Application is formatted and can be used, and to highlight some of the latest results and trends. That report is posted along with other CWCI studies in the Research Reports section under the Research tab on our homepage.

The Inpatient Hospital Utilization Application is one of seven interactive data applications that CWCI members can access on our website by logging on with their username and password. (If you haven’t set up a member account, select “Your Account” at the top of the home page, click “Add me as a Member User” from the pull-down menu, complete the form, then use the information to log in). If you need assistance, call 510-251-9470.

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