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Quality: Frequently Asked Questions

On this website, we share UCI Health clinical quality, medical outcomes and patient satisfaction data that are reported to a variety of agencies and surveys, including:

  • The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey
  • The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP)
  • The National Cardiovascular Data Registry®
  • The CathPCI Registry®
  • The Press Ganey® Patient Satisfaction Survey

Public healthcare reporting websites often list information that is actually several years old. We post information about UCI Health patient care that we have reported more recently — sometimes within the past three to six months. We will refresh our posts as often as every three months.

Here are answers to frequently asked questions to help you understand our quality reports.

Q: What are quality reports and why are they important?

A: Quality reports tell you how we perform in caring for our patients — as an institution overall and in various specialties. We encourage you to talk with your physician about the quality report information.

Q: Why does UCI Health provide this information?

A: UCI Health publishes this information to:

  • Give our patients valuable data to help them make informed decisions about their health and healthcare
  • Give our patients and the public accurate and timely information on the quality and safety of our services
  • Keep improving the quality of care at UCI Health

Please note that these quality and safety reports:

  • Are not provided as medical advice
  • Are not intended to create a doctor-patient or other relationship
  • Should not be taken as a guarantee of specific results

Q: What do the quality reports show?

A: Each quality report offers data that measures our performance in clinical care and patient outcomes. Whenever possible, we include other information, such as how patients rate our care, the number of procedures we perform, how long it takes to get an appointment and the cost of our services.

Q: How does UCI Health choose which measures to report?

A: Our physicians select measures that reflect questions our patients ask. We also talk with our patients to learn what kind of information they seek. In part, however, we are limited by the available data.

Q: Are there quality reports on individual doctors?

A: No. We believe that our physicians and healthcare staff members work as a team. Our quality reports reflect this.

Q: Where does UCI Health get the data for these reports?

A: The data comes from many sources. Most quality report information comes from our internal information systems, including administrative and billing data, medical record reviews, departmental clinical registries and data from other vendor products.

We report this information to a variety of agencies, including

  • The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey
  • The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP)
  • The National Cardiovascular Data Registry®
  • The CathPCI Registry®
  • The Press Ganey® Patient Satisfaction Survey

Q: How does UCI Health ensure the accuracy of these reports?

A: We have processes in place, including review and audit procedures, to check the data we collect and publish. We are constantly working to improve and streamline these processes.

Q: Why are comparisons missing in some categories?

A: Sometimes there is no comparison available. That is usually because we are measuring and showing data that isn’t widely published.

Q: Some reports use the term "risk adjustment." What does that mean?

A: Risk adjustment is a statistical way to take into account how sick our patients are. It lets us compare our results to other hospitals or groups of hospitals in some situations.

Q: How can I learn how much my procedure or service will cost?

A: To find out how much a procedure or service is going to cost, you may call our Patient Accounts Customer Service at 714-456-6324 for a personalized estimate.

Can't find what you're looking for? Email us at walkerpa@uci.edu or haivt@uci.edu.

Please know that privacy regulations and legal constraints prevent us from providing medical advice by email. It is important to talk to your doctor about your specific healthcare needs.

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