Uniform billing data in hospital planning, marketing and clinical guidelines.

Hospitals are major users of inpatient discharge data from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). A hospital planning and marketing executive and a hospital network consultant describe different uses for the data; including planning, competitor analysis, and development of clinical pathways. The PHC4 data are useful because they are reported in a uniform format for all facilities and they provide detailed clinical and financial information.