Wide Gap In Mortality Rates In US Hospitals

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Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 16 Oct 2007 - 10:00 PDT

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America's top rated hospitals have a 71% lower mortality rate than the country's lowest rated hospitals, according to the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, which came out today. The study looks at 18 procedures and conditions. The study also found that if all the hospitals in the USA had the mortality rates of the top rated hospitals 266,604 Medicare patients who died over a three-year-period would have lived.

The HealthGrades study is the most comprehensive annual study of its kind and covers about 5,000 hospitals and 41 million Medicare hospitalizations records during 2004-2006.

The following procedures and conditions were examined:

-- Atrial Fibrillation
-- Bowel Obstruction
-- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
-- Coronary Bypass Surgery
-- Coronary Interventional Procedures (Angioplasty/Stent)
-- Diabetic Acidosis and Coma
-- Gastrointestinal Bleed
-- Gastrointestinal Surgeries and Procedures
-- Heart Attack (Acute Myocardial Infarction)
-- Heart Failure
-- Pancreatitis
-- Pneumonia
-- Pulmonary Embolism
-- Resection/Replacement Abdominal Aorta
-- Respiratory Failure
-- Sepsis
-- Stroke
-- Valve Replacement Surgery

Methodology for Ratings

The ratings method factors in such characteristics as sex, and underlying medical conditions that may influence a patient's risk of complications and mortality.

Mortality rates across all US hospitals overall have improved 11.8% during the three year period (2004-2006 inclusive). The top rated hospitals saw their mortality rates drop by 12.8%. The lowest rated hospitals also experienced a fall in mortality rates, 11.4%.

The following procedures and conditions had the best improvements in mortality rates:

-- pancreatitis - 19.2%
-- pulmonary embolism - 17.4%
-- diabetic acidosis and coma - 16.6%

The following procedures and conditions had the smallest improvement in mortality rates:

-- resection/replacement of the abdominal aorta - 0.4%
-- coronary interventional procedures such as angioplasties and stents - 0.8%
-- treatment of heart attack - 8.9%

Samantha Collier, MD, HealthGrades' chief medical officer, said "While we are pleased to see that the hospital industry's focus on improving care quality has continued to reduce mortality rates, a significant variation in quality among the nation's best and poorest-performing hospitals persists. Concentrating on emulating practices from exemplary hospitals can result in improvement. If this focus were targeted to four key quality areas - heart failure, respiratory failure, sepsis, and pneumonia - the nation could achieve up to a 50-percent reduction in potentially preventable deaths."

-- Click here to view the full study online (PDF)

www.healthgrades.com

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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