Within the Discussion Board area, write 300500 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

For this Discussion Board, please complete the following:

Your coworkers are interested in learning about the many online federal and state healthcare databases and the different types of statistical information available in each database. Like other healthcare organizations, Choice Hospital wants to maintain its financial stability and improve the quality of patient care. The new chief executive officer (CEO) of Choice Hospital would like to understand better utilization rates and other performance measures that can be used to track and demonstrate quality improvement. As the healthcare assistant (HCA), you and your team are asked to conduct preliminary research in the following areas:

• Identify databases for statistical information on the utilization rates and other measures of quality performance (e.g., average length of stay [ALOS], patient wait times, and death rates), and select a healthcare statistic.
• Define your chosen healthcare statistic, and explain how it was calculated.
• Explain why research questions are essential and how the data obtained from research questions are used for informed decision making.
• Describe hypothesis testing and how it is used in research.