Florida hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and emergency departments are required to electronically submit data to the state about patients who are discharged. But a recent survey of those providers showed that nearly 78 percent of respondents reported having data rejected most of the time.
Just 21.82 percent of those surveyed indicated that their submissions were accepted between 75 percent and 90 percent of the time.
The findings of the survey will be shared with the State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council, which meets at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Gainesville and via webinar.
The survey was conducted to help the state Agency for Health Care Administration plan to modernize its data-collection system.
The agency has hired consultants ISF to assist in planning for modernization of the system.
Sixty-one providers responded to the survey, which asked an array of questions, ranging from whether the current online data system is user-friendly to whether providers are able to easily correct and resubmit data.
While nearly 78 percent of the providers reported their submissions were often rejected, the frequency of the rejections varied.
More than a third of the providers reported data submissions are rejected more than 90 percent of the time.
Hospital inpatient and outpatient data, and increasingly emergency data, are collected for purposes such as obtaining information for public safety, injury surveillance and prevention, public health, disease surveillance, disease registries and health planning.
In the survey, providers were able to add feedback. One provider noted that, “Other than providing data for competitors, the process has not delivered the value to patients.” A summary of the survey findings is here.
The State Consumer Health Information and Policy Advisory Council reviews efforts related to data collection and recommends improvements.
