The CHA DATABANK Program is a web-based database of hospital utilization and financial performance indicators. The database is the source of comparable information on average length of stay, outpatient statistics, charges and expenses per day and per stay, uncollected charges, number of days in accounts receivable gross, profitability and a number of personnel statistics. Twenty eight balance sheet data elements and two supplemental data elements are also reported to the program with corresponding output.
Click here for a sample DATABANK Input Form
Hospitals submit their monthly data on the secure DATABANK Web Site at www.databank.org. The data collection and submission process usually takes the hospital DATABANK Contact Person less than an hour to complete and can be streamlined by using the available Excel Upload template. Once the data is submitted on the web, member hospitals are able to run their facilities' reports and graphs immediately. Reports containing peer group comparisons can be viewed and printed on-line once certain peer group thresholds have been met. The data contained on the DATABANK reports is used for budgeting, marketing and internal management purposes within the hospital. At the association level, the data is used for public policy decisions such as Medicaid disproportionate share.
Around the United StatesCHA's DATABANK program is licensed in twenty eight states. These states operate their DATABANK Programs as CHA does, as a member benefit. However, each state has the ability to customize their DATABANK Program to meet their state-specific needs.
DATABANK offers three optional payer categories for states to use to customize the program for their state's use. In addition to payer customization, states are also able to tailor the levels of service to their specific needs. The required payer categories are Medicare, Medicaid, Self Pay and All others. Colorado has selected Champus, Managed Care and Commercial as the state's optional payer categories. State associations have complete control over what thresholds must be met in order for data to be displayed on DATABANK reports.
The Monthly DATABANK ProcessOnce access to the web site has been established, the designated DATABANK Contact Person collects and enters their aggregated hospital level information (25 days after month end) for the following areas;
- Discharges by payer and level of service
- Patient days by payer and level of service
- Other statistics including outpatient data in total
- Gross charges by payer and levels of service
- Contractual adjustments by payer
- Charity care in total
- Operating expenses
- Other operating revenue, operating margin, net nonoperating gains, tax subsidies and total Margin
- Gross patient accounts receivable
- Balance Sheet Data
The deadline each month is 25 days following the previous months' close of business. If data is not submitted by the 25th, the hospital will not receive their monthly scheduled report. A follow-up phone call will be made or an email will be sent to the DATABANK Contact Person to remind them to submit their data.
Advantages to Hospitals- Hospitals have control over their data (editing and correcting) that is used by the association
- Hospitals have instant access to their information and can customize the output
- Hospitals can design their own peer groups using the Peer Group Builder for peer groups within the state
- Hospitals can make corrections to prior months during their fiscal year
- No limit to the number of users that have access to the DATABANK Web Site
- Provides more timely, accurate and complete data to the association for their advocacy and representation role
- Hospitals can select from a variety of indicators and create graphs in PDF, Jpeg and Flash formats
- Hospitals can download their data into a spreadsheet
- Users can design their own peer groups across states lines using the National Peer Group Builder functionality(NPGB on the navigation bar)
- Hospital users can schedule their reports and graphs to be emailed as attachments depending on their schedule and the types of reports needed
Graphical ReportsTwo methods for graphing data are available:
- One Indicator, Multiple Entities
This Graphical Trend Report allows the user to select one data element or indicator from a list and graph it against multiple entities which can be individual hospitals or peer groups. - Multiple Indicators, One Entity
Users can select this type of Graphical Trend Report to compare their hospital's performance (or peer group) for several indicators. Example; Hospital xyz Patient Service Margin, Operating Margin and Total Margin trending from August 2005 back to September 2004. A word of caution: certain data elements do not make sense to put on one graph as in displaying Discharges and Patient Days. One element will be trended along the top of the graph and one on the bottom.
Users can select the number of months for in each data point, i.e. one month up to twelve months per data point. Another useful feature is to optionally set the number of data points. An example of this would be if your hospital only had five years of historical data and you wanted to see the annual trend, you could set this to five data points and the number of months per data point to 12.
New items are being added to the list of data indicators. The current list has expanded to contain many of the most popular indicators. If you don't see an item you'd like graphed, please call CHA with your suggestions.
Users can select between three output formats:
- Flash - Very useful when viewing the chart in your web browser as you can mouse over a datapoint and it will display a popup with the corresponding data for that point on the graph.
- PDF - The PDF format is useful if you want to print the chart and included data. Or, if you want to email the chart to someone.
- Jpeg - This format is useful if you want to include the generated graph in an email, word document, or other distribution medium.
Standard ReportsUsers of the on-line DATABANK Program have the option to view and print the many different types of reports. All DATABANK standard reports consistently display calculated indicators using the same calculations from report to report. To view the sample reports, see the Sample Reports section.
Report Content: The DATABANK reports display financial and utilization data in the following categories: - Utilization - Inpatient and Outpatient
- Financial Data
- Uncollected Charges
- Operating Revenue
- Operating Expenses
- Profitability Other Financial Data
- Personnel Data
- Days in Accounts Receivable Gross
Sample Reports and GraphsClick on the links below to view sample DATABANK Reports and Graphs.
Peer GroupsStandard Peer Groups CHA has defined standard peer groups for Colorado hospitals. These peer groups are:
- Geographic (Metro Denver, North Central, Northeast, SE/SC and Western Slope)
- Expense category based on Total Operating Expense
- Medicare Payment Method (Large Urban, Other Urban and Rural)
- Acute Care, Rehabilitation and Specialty
- Case Mix Index
- Outpatient Volumes
- Congressional Districts
- Critical Access Hospitals
- Trauma Levels
- Public Hospitals
Custom Peer Groups In addition to these peer groups, users may create and maintain their own peer groups on-line. These peer groups may be a group of hospitals or, because of Colorado's open data sharing policies, the reports can display individual hospital data.
National Peer Group Builder The DATABANK Web Site has functionality to assist users in creating peer groups across state lines. The National Peer Group Builder (NPGB) is a tool that allows the hospital user to create a peer group based on criteria they select from a user-friendly screen. Peer groups can be built based on the following criteria:
- Licensed or Available Beds
- Average Daily Census
- MPM (Large Urban, Other Urban, Rural)
- Sole Community Provider, Critical Access, Rural Referral
- Case Mix Index, All Payer and Medicare CMI
- Bond Ratings
- Teaching Status
- Trauma Levels
- Census Divisions
- And Other Classifications and Affiliations
Because of the different levels of confidentiality across the country, identities of hospitals grouped by the NPGB are masked from view. Once the peer groups are built and saved they can be used in any of the reports that utilize peer group comparisons.
MedicaidAll hospitals serving Medicaid patients are required by law to submit data to CHA's DATABANK program.
8.356.60 Medicaid Data All hospitals participating in the Medicaid program will submit Medicaid and total hospital utilization, statistical and financial data to the Colorado Health and Hospital Associations DATABANK Program. If a hospital does not report to the Colorado Health Hospital Associations data base, the Department will send the required format for reporting this data.
FeesThe cost for member hospitals to participate in the CHA DATABANK program is included in the annual CHA dues. The only cost to the hospital is the time to submit the Income Statement and Balance Sheet data.
State hospital associations that license DATABANK pay an annual fee to access the program and make it available to their member hospitals.
SecurityThe DATABANK Web Site utilizes the highest level of encryption for data security. Access to the web site is reviewed in order to make certain the site is being accessed appropriately.
AccessAccess to www.databank.org is limited to member hospitals and licensed associations. Any number of hospital personnel may gain access to the DATABANK Web Site and the DATABANK Contact Person within each facility may grant access and manage hospital users from their desktop. Levels of access are also available within each hospital; users that only need access to the reports can be shown only those links and not the data entry links, providing additional security that the hospital data is entered by the appropriate employees.
To gain access to the DATABANK Web Site or for more information regarding the DATABANK Program, please contact Kevin Reed, Senior Director at 720-489-1630.
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Data Services