Discrepancies in Hospital Financial Information: Comparison of Financial Data in State Data Repositories and Healthcare Cost Reporting Information System

Presented at the 2018 AAA Annual Meeting

Those in need of public hospital financial data can obtain hospital financial statements (HFSs) from state data repositories (SDRs) or Medicare Cost Reports (MCRs) from Healthcare Cost Reporting Information System (HCRIS). This study examines a sample of 34,728 financial statement items extracted from HFSs and MCRs filed during 2007-2011. Our comparison results show a nontrivial frequency of missing items in both HFSs and MCRs affecting the completeness of data. The frequency of discrepancies between the two data sources is widespread among financial items, and the materiality of discrepancies is significant, affecting both the accuracy and relevancy of data. We also find nontrivial occurrences of computational errors, and significant signed and absolute relative discrepancies between the two data sources affecting the accuracy of data. Assessing the believability of data, two replications of research studies using data from SDRs and HCRIS separately produce similar inferences.