1. Hospital Death (Mortality) Measures
1. What are the death (mortality) measures that show risk-adjusted hospital death rates?
One way to tell whether a hospital is doing a good job is to find out whether patients admitted to the hospital have death (mortality) rates that are lower (better) than the U.S. National rate, about the same as the U.S. National rate, or higher (worse) than the U.S. National rate, given how sick they were when they were admitted to the hospital. The information on this website shows how the 30-day risk-adjusted death rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia at different hospitals compare to the U.S. National rate. For some hospitals, the number of cases is too small (fewer than 25) to reliably tell how well the hospital is performing, so the hospital may not be shown.
2. What are the outcome of care measures that show risk-adjusted hospital readmissions?
“Readmission” is when patients who have had a recent stay in the hospital go back into a hospital again. The information on this website shows how often patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge from a previous hospital stay for heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia. Patients may have been readmitted back to the same hospital or to a different hospital or acute care facility. They may have been readmitted for the same condition as their recent hospital stay, or for a different reason.
This website shows how different hospitals’ rates of readmission for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia patients compare to the U.S. National Rate. You can see whether the 30-day risk-adjusted rate of readmission for a hospital is lower (better) than the national rate, no different than the national rate, or higher (worse) than the national rate, given how sick patients were when they were admitted to the hospital. For some hospitals, the number of cases is too small (fewer than 25) to reliably tell how well the hospital is performing, so no comparison to the national rate is shown.