Oct 6, 2023
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council has released a set of county-level reports giving data on specific health conditions for calendar year 2022.
The reports, the council said, were “produced in the pursuit of improving healthcare outcomes and fostering transparency. These reports shed light on critical healthcare conditions, offering valuable insights into the state of public health at the county level.”
When considering the value of these reports, Barry Buckingham, PHC4’s executive director, stated, “Whether you are a healthcare professional, policymaker, researcher or concerned citizen, these reports supply the freshest essential data to support evidence-based decision-making and analysis within our healthcare systems.”
Regarding local data, Bradford Regional Medical Center spokesman Joseph Fuglewicz said the county seems on par with the rest of Pennsylvania.
“The data provided in the PHC4's 2022 County-Level Condition-Specific Report that was just released to hospitals this afternoon is being evaluated by our team,” he said. “However, from a preliminary analysis, McKean County doesn’t appear to have significant trends of elevated or irregular data in any area when compared to other counties across the state.”
In the category of hospitalizations related to diabetes, the McKean County number was 53 and the rate per 10,000 residents was 13.3. In Elk County, the number was 55 and the rate was 18. In Cameron County, the number was 15 and the rate was 34. The data for Potter County was not reported.
For breast cancer surgery, there were 14 in McKean County for a rate of 9 per 10,000 female residents. In Elk County, there were 37, for a rate of 30.3. The numbers in Cameron and Potter counties were too low to report, according to the Cost Containment Council.
For potentially preventable hospitalizations, there were 236 in McKean County for a rate of 73.6 per 10,000 residents. In Elk County there were 234, for a rate of 94.3. In Potter County, the number was 126 for a rate of 97.3, while in Cameron County, the number was 68 for a rate of 183.9.
In the category of hospitalizations for opioid use disorder, there were 34 in McKean County for a rate of 100.7 per 100,000 residents. In Elk County, the number was 63, for a rate of 244.3. In Potter County, the number was 12 for a rate of 88.4. The number in Cameron County was too low to report, the council noted.
For hospitalizations related to sepsis, the number in McKean County was 199, while the rate of hospitalizations was 61.9 per 10,000 residents age 18 and older. In Potter County, the number was 114, while the rate was 87.5. In Elk County, the number was 154 and the rate was 62.1, and in Cameron County, the number was 25. The rate was 68.3.
The report also included hospitalizations related to C. difficile infection. In McKean County, the number was 12 and the rate was 3 per 10,000 residents. In Elk County, the number was 13 and the rate was 4.3. Numbers were not available for Potter and Cameron counties.
All of the reports are available for free at phc4.org. By providing these results, PHC4 aims to empower communities, healthcare providers and policymakers with the most up-to-date information they need to make informed decisions and prioritize healthcare resources effectively.
PHC4 is an independent state agency formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. The council produces comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.