CMS began developing measures evaluating imaging efficiency back in 2007. These performance measures have been distributed as part of Hospital Compare for the past four years. Lower percentages suggest more efficient use of medical imaging. The purpose of reporting these measures is to reduce unnecessary exposure to contrast materials and/or…
Postsecondary institutions continue to invest heavily in capital assets and the cumulative investment across public and private institutions has crossed $900 billion, an increase of 27% over a five-year period. The capital investment growth rates are almost identical for both public institutions and private non-profit institutions as noted in the…
An interesting study published in the September issue of Health Affairs found that 9 percent of rural counties experienced the loss of all hospital obstetric services in the period 2004–14. In addition, another 45 percent of rural US counties had no hospital obstetric services at all during the study period. We…
IPEDS reports residency numbers for first-time undergraduates by state. This data can be challenging to work with from several perspectives. It is not collected every year by every institution and it does not summarize the students coming from out of the state of the institution. The Enrollment Suite…
My Cleveland Indians have now won 13 games in a row. That along with their overall record and stellar play over the entire season tells me they are a good team. However, at any given point the Indians or any particular player could play really poorly. The similar challenge with…
It will take many years for the faculty gender pay gap to close at the current rate of change. From 2014 to 2015, women received around half a percent higher pay increase from men over the various institutional sectors. There is still a 16% and 14% gender pay gap for full professors…
The most recent batch of Hospital Compare data has expanded the whole area of readmissions, returns, and deaths. There are now separate measures for mortality rates, readmissions, and hospital returns. The hospital returns measure is brand new, with the most recent data through June 2016, and applies to heart attack…
The FAFSA Application Volume declined nearly 11% for the application cycles from June 30, 2014 through June 30, 2017 based on data from Federal Student Aid and analyzed using the Financial Aid Interactive. FAFSA application cycles are based on an 18-month period for any one particular school year. Note the…
This week, Ascension Health acquired Presence Health, combining the largest Catholic-sponsored healthcare system in Illinois with the nation’s largest Catholic health system, the companies announced Tuesday. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals. The deal underscores a continued trend towards market consolidation. It seems Ascension, at 141 hospitals, acquiring an…
Over 230,000 students pay out-of-state tuition rates compared to approximately 1.5 million students who pay in-state or in-district rates according to the most recent cohort group from IPEDS. This represents 13.09% of the students and continues an upward progression of out-of-state paying students. The number of students paying out-of-state…
While average length of stay has experienced a long-term decline, one component of average stay seems to be increasing – private rooms. The average stay in a private room increased nearly 10% based on an analysis of the 2016 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data set. Even more…
Over 4,000 institutions participate in the Federal Work Study Program. This program provides funds for part-time employment to help needy students finance the costs of postsecondary education. For the fiscal year ending June, 2016, $1.16 billion was paid to students under this program. This was roughly the same as the…