Hospital quality indicators are not unidimensional: A reanalysis of Lieberthal and Comer

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the dimensionality of hospital quality indicators treated as unidimensional in a prior publication.

Data source/study design: Pooled cross-sectional 2010-2011 Hospital Compare data (10/1/10 and 10/1/11 archives) and the 2012 American Hospital Association Annual Survey.

Data extraction: We used 71 indicators of structure, process, and outcomes of hospital care in a principal component analysis of Ridit scores to evaluate the dimensionality of the indicators. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis using only the indicators in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Hospital Value-Based Purchasing.

Principal findings: There were four underlying dimensions of hospital quality: patient experience, mortality, and two clinical process dimensions.

Conclusions: Hospital quality should be measured using a variety of indicators reflecting different dimensions of quality. Treating hospital quality as unidimensional leads to erroneous conclusions about the performance of different hospitals.

Keywords: Quality of care/patient safety (measurement); hospitals; patient experience.

Figure 1

Scree plot of eigenvalues from the exploratory factor analysis of 25 indicators of hospital quality