Rethinking Rankings: A Smarter Approach to Hospital Quality with Cheryl Manchenton

Cheryl Manchenton and I go back a long way—I once took a ride from a Las Vegas casino to the airport with her after an ACDIS conference well over a decade ago. And I’ve learned over the years she also happens to be as sharp—and as outspoken—as anyone I’ve ever met regarding the subject of healthcare quality, specifically measuring hospital quality with coded or abstracted data and how it all relates to the work of mid-revenue cycle professionals. I think we even talked quality on the way to the airport. So I was thrilled to get her on Off the Record to go deep on this topic, along with her Disney World obsession and other fun asides (Gandalf the Gray makes his way in to the conversation). This was a fabulous, wide-ranging talk on quality. Tune in and listen to:  What Cheryl thinks about how we measure quality in healthcare, specifically through the use of coded data What quality-obsessed hospitals often get wrong about impacting outcomes with documentation and coding alone (with a deep dive into healthcare acquired infections, or HAIs).  Borderline or unscrupulous practices done to artificially improve quality rankings What concrete steps would Cheryl take were she leading a small community hospital seeking to improve its observed/expected mortality ratio The recently-released 2026 OPPS proposed rule and the large number of hospitals potentially impacted by the new Safety Measures change (we both like this: presently a hospital can rank at the bottom for safety and still be 5 stars) The reality of “picking your poison” among many quality programs and getting aligned with what really matters to your organization Cheryl’s career north star, how she stays educated, and thoughts on her long career winding down Disney craze, grandkids, and best tips for navigating the theme parks