Definitions
Hospital Profile

Identifying information about a hospital is maintained by the Louisiana Hospital Association:

• Identification (name, address, and phone number)

• Website

• System affiliation

• Notes about the facility

• Clinical services provided

• Accreditation status (accrediting agency / effective date - expiration date)

Other information is taken from public data sources maintained by the American Hospital Directory:

• Type of control is taken from a hospital's most recent Medicare cost report (HCRIS) file.

• A hospital's geographic information (e.g. county, and Metropolitan Statistical Area) are determined through commercial geocoding based on the hospital's address. Please note that MSAs are based on the 2000 standards that supersede 1990 standards.

• Medicare classifies a hospital as either "Urban" or "Rural" based on its Metropolitan Statistical Area. A hospital can, however, be reclassified from rural to urban if it meets certain criteria. A hospital's designation is taken from its most recent Medicare Cost Report.

• Utilization statistics and volumes by type of payer are obtained from a hospital's most recent Medicare cost report. Data are updated on a quarterly basis as more recent information becomes available:

  Beds:	W/S S-3, part I, col 1
  Inpatient Days:	W/S S-3, part I, col 4-6
  Discharges:	W/S S-3, part I, col 15
  Average Length of Stay:	Calculated: Days / Discharges
  Average Daily Census:	Calculated: Days / 365