README

A description of the 6 hospice data files is included below.  The first below is not section 508 compliant.  However, the data from the first file is presented in the second and third files in a 508 compliant fashion.  Therefore if a reader can view the first file, he or she would not need to review the second and third files.  Additionally, the fourth file below includes 3 tabs: 2 show line graphs and the third shows the data table from which the graphs were built.  We have also included a text version of the data table to be 508 compliant, as the fifth file below (Top_20_Chart_Data_1998-2008.txt).


1. Top_20_Summary_1998-2008.xlsx: This file shows the top 20 hospice diagnoses, the number of patients, and average length of stay for calendar years 1998 to 2008.  This file must be printed with a landscape orientation on legal paper.  This file is not 508-compliant, so we have created 508-compliant versions, with the identical data in 2 separate files: one with 1998 to 2002 data, and one with 2003 to 2008 data.

2. Top_20_Summary_1998-2002.xlsx: This file shows the top 20 hospice diagnoses, the number of patients, and average length of stay for calendar years 1998 to 2002.  This file must be printed with a landscape orientation on legal paper. 

3.  Top_20_Summary_2003-2008.xlsx: This file shows the top 20 hospice diagnoses, the number of patients, and average length of stay for calendar years 2003 to 2008.  This file must be printed with a landscape orientation on legal paper. 

4. Top_20_Charts_1998-2008.xlsx:  This file has 3 tabs.  The tab labeled  Chart 1 Avg LOS Cancer displays a line graph of the average length of stay from 1998 to 2008 for each cancer diagnosis in the top 20 diagnoses in 2008.  The tab labeled Chart 2 Avg LOS Non-Cancer displays a line graph of the average length of stay from 1998 to 2008 for each non-cancer diagnosis in the top 20 diagnoses in 2008.  The tab labeled LOS data is a data table showing average LOS from 1998 to 2008 for the top 20 diagnoses in 2008.  

5. Top_20_Charts_Data_1998-2009.txt:  To be 508 compliant, we have also presented the average length of stay data included in the Top_20_Charts_1998-2008.xlsx file in text format.

6. Medicare_Hospice_Data_Top_20_2008.pdf: This text file briefly summarizes the data tables and charts, and the trends observed.


