Impact Summary: This measure supports the PCHQR Program’s objectives by providing transparent, standardized infection ratio data that empowers consumers to make informed health care decisions and motivates hospitals and clinicians to focus on quality improvement and adherence to best practices in inpatient care for Medicare beneficiaries.
Analysis of measure performance over the past 4 years is impacted by the small number of PCHQR hospitals available to report on this measure, rather than low participation among a large eligible group.
With only seven entities per year in Figure 1a and eight in Figure 1b, distinguishing true trends from random variation is difficult, and little discernable change is observed across the 4 years. Tables 1a and 1b demonstrate potential improvements that translate to a reduction in surgical site infections of fewer than three eligible patients per entity.
For this measure, Battelle reviewed the following publicly available datasets available at Hospitals data archive | Provider Data Catalog:
- Hospitals_02_2026.zip (which contains data from April 2024-March 2025 and is referred to as year 2024 in this assessment)
- Hospitals_02_2025.zip (which contains data from April 2023-March 2024 and is referred to as year 2023 in this assessment)
- Hospitals_01_2024.zip (which contains data from April 2022-March 2023 and is referred to as year 2022 in this assessment)
- Hospitals_01_2023.zip (which contains data from April 2021-March 2022 and is referred to as year 2021 in this assessment)
Battelle analyzed all values for “PCH_6” and “PCH_7” not marked as “Not Available” from the corresponding PCH_HEALTHCARE_ASSOCIATED_INFECTIONS_HOSPITAL.csv file.
About Figure 1a and 1b: Figures 1a and 1b are boxplots that show how scores have changed based on the most recent 4 years of data available. For each year, the boxplot displays a box with lines and dots to help visualize the range and distribution of scores. The dots represent the points where the lowest 5% and highest 5% of scores fall, and the line connecting them shows where 90% of the scores are located. The box itself covers the middle half of the scores, from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Inside the box, a horizontal line marks the median score, which is the middle value, while a “+” sign shows the average score. This type of graph makes overall trends in scores over time as well as the consistency and spread of the results easier to understand.