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

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2019-10-01
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Lamboy-Ruiz, Melvin
No, Won
Watanabe, Olena
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Watanabe, Olena
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Accounting

The Department of Accounting was founded in 1984 in the College of Business Administration (later College of Business).

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The Department of Accounting seeks to provide a mastery of basic accounting concepts and encouraging critical and creative thinking about accounting problems. It is intended both for internal users (management) and external users (investors, creditors, government officials, the general public).

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1984–present

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Accounting
Abstract

High-quality financial data are important to stakeholders in the healthcare sector but are difficult to obtain. The two data sources most often used are hospital financial statements (HFSs) and Medicare Cost Reports (MCRs). Applying an analytical framework of data information quality dimensions, we compare a sample of 34,728 instances of 12 financial statement items extracted from HFSs and MCRs filed from 2007 through 2011. Our comparison shows a nontrivial frequency of missing items, widespread discrepancies across financial items, and a materiality of discrepancies that is significant in both sources. We also find many avoidable computational errors and significant absolute relative discrepancies between the sources. Additionally, we perform replications of two prior studies to test the believability of HFS and MCR data. Although we cannot conclude which source is more accurate, we do alert users of hospital financial data to the comparative potentials and limitations of these two major sources.

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This accepted article is published as Melvin A. Lamboy-Ruiz, Won G. No, and Olena V. Watanabe (2019) Discrepancies in Hospital Financial Information: Comparison of Financial Data in State Data Repositories and the Healthcare Cost Reporting Information System. Journal of Information Systems: Fall 2019, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 19-44. Doi: 10.2308/isys-52149. Posted with permission.

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Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2018
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