Annual Licensing Survey: More Than a Regulatory Requirement

Every year, Missouri hospitals are asked to complete the Annual Licensing Survey, a collaborative effort between the Missouri Hospital Association, American Hospital Association, and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.  

While the survey is a DHSS requirement for licensing hospitals, the information collected from the survey serves a far greater purpose — providing essential data for advocacy efforts and reports. 

“Coordinated by the Hospital Industry Data Institute, the Annual Licensing Survey is a one-stop shop that provides MHA, AHA and DHSS with the information needed to support the work of Missouri’s hospitals,” said Brandon Hutchison, MHA’s and HIDI’s senior vice president of research, data and information services. 

The data allow MHA, AHA and DHSS to make informed decisions when it comes to health care. 

By providing a comprehensive snapshot of hospital operations, the survey allows MHA, AHA and DHSS to support hospitals more effectively, without repeatedly contacting them for information throughout the year. 

What information is collected? 

The Annual Licensing Survey gathers data from many different areas, including a hospital’s basic organizational structure, current service offerings, staffing, financials, information technology setup and capabilities, and more. 

“As the health care landscape continues to evolve and hospitals face new challenges, additional or different information is requested in the survey to help support well-informed advocacy and policy decisions,” Hutchison said. 

For instance, the IT portions of the survey change drastically from year to year as technology advances. This year’s survey asks about artificial intelligence and large language models.  

The types of services that hospitals are asked to provide in the survey also have become more granular over the years, Hutchison said. 

How is the survey data used? 

The data collected from the Annual Licensing Survey inform a variety of reports at both the state and national levels.  

• MHA uses the data in its annual legislative guides and community investment reports. 

• DHSS uses the data for publishing three-year revenue and utilization charts. 

• AHA publishes the data in the AHA Guide® and AHA Hospital Statistics^TM as well as provides the data to organizations to be used in, for example, Newsweek’s hospital rankings. 

Data are sent to AHA and DHSS at set intervals throughout the year. 

Finalizing the survey results can take time due to the large volume of data collected and the need for thorough analysis. The speed at which hospitals complete the survey, as well as the processing capacity of each organization, impacts the timeline of when the survey results are available. 

The Annual Licensing Survey is much more than a regulatory requirement — it’s a powerful tool for shaping health care in Missouri.