HEW's Proposed System for Hospital Uniform Reporting

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) made available for comment, as a proposed regulation, its System for Hospital Uniform Reporting (SHUR). Legislation had required the Secretary of HEW to establish by regulation for each type of health services facility, or organization, a uniform system for the reporting of such matters as costs and volume of services, capital assets, and billing data. SHUR is not only a uniform reporting system but also an instrument for gathering cost reimbursement data, statistics needed for health planning, and health manpower data. When compared to the Medicare cost report, SHUR represents a net increase of 10 forms. Although the increase in the number of forms required by SHUR appears to be rather moderate, the increase in the amount of information required to be reported is much more dramatic. There is a high incidence of similarity between the two SHUR forms for reporting of hospital operating and nonoperating expenses, and the American Hospital Association (AHA) uniform reporting system.