Augusta, Georgia Area: Intro

I wanted to start my data adventure in Augusta, Georgia for multiple reasons. It is where I got my start. I was born and raised in this area. It’s where most of my family members live. It’s where I met my husband. It’s home.

Augusta, Georgia is most well known for being the home of the Masters. That first week of April the beautiful, lush greens of the Augusta National are center stage. People from all over the world come to see the golf course and the players. It is indeed a beautiful place.

Augusta has more to offer though than a game of golf once a year. It is also home to multiple hospitals; a sort of minuature mecca of healthcare. If you grew up here, like I did, you may not realize how fortunate this city is to have all of these healthcare options available.

Did you know that the Joseph M Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital is one of the largest burn units in the country?

Did you know that University Hospital has a 4-star rating from CMS?

Did you know that AU Medical Center has the region’s only Level IV NICU and Level I trauma center?

Hopefully, this does not matter to you on a regular basis. Hopefully, you are healthy as a horse. Hopefully, you will be this way forever.

But in all actuality, you will probably need these services one day and on that day you will be grateful you live in Augusta so close to multiple hospitals who specialize in different medical services.

My aim in this series to take a look what data I can find the Medicare cost report data files that CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) makes available to the public. I have worked in this field for over a decade, but I have never worked with an Augusta hospital much less a Georgia one. I have no inside knowledge in this market. The majority of the time I visit these hospitals, I am there as a visitor of a patient.

I want to learn more about this community of hospitals. As I dig into the data, I will share what jumps out at me. Hopefully, through this journey we will both learn something.

Before I get started, though, I want to point out a few things.

One. There are many more hospitals in this area than the ones I am going to cover. This is because I am focusing on short-term acute care hospitals. So, I’m not looking at psych hospitals nor rehab hospitals. Also, with the data set I’m working from, many critical access hospitals won’t be covered and neither will the VA or Eisenhower hospital. It just depends on which Medicare Cost Report form they used. Each form is in a different data set. The hospitals that I will be looking at are University Health Services (University Hospital), AU Medical Center (MCG), Doctor’s Hospital, Burke Medical Center, Jefferson Hospital, McDuffie Regional Medical Center, Washington Country Regional Medical Center, Emanuel Medical Center and Aiken Regional Medical Center. I know. Aiken Regional Medical Center is in South Carolina. It’s in this section because it’s in the same “Hospital Referral Region” as classified by CMS.

Two. I really don’t have any inside knowledge of these hospitals. I can make guesses as to what is going on, but it would be only a guess. I’m not here to really guess. I just want to see what the data says. There will be mistakes in the data. If you’ve ever seen one of these cost reports, you’ll understand why mistakes are made. These things are huge. Mistakes happen. Often.

Three. I am here to learn. Hopefully, through this process I can refine and expand my knowledge. There is nothing quite like thinking you know something and, then, well finding out you don’t. Learning enrichens living. May our journey be enchanting and may it challenge us to never stop learning.