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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Senior Citizens on Medicare Substantially Lower
Death Risk by Choosing 5-Star Hospitals
HealthGrades 2007 hospital-quality study looked a
40.6 million Medicare records
October 16, 2006 Senior citizens can lower their
death risk during a hospitalization by 69 percent by getting their
treatment at a top-rated hospital ("5-star") rather than a 1-star rated
hospital. This conclusion was released today as part of the largest
annual study of hospital quality in America by HealthGrades.
This
"quality chasm" between the best and poorest-performing hospitals has
grown by approximately 5 percent since last year's study, even as
overall mortality rates have improved by nearly 8 percent.
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The ninth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in
America Study analyzes 40.6 million Medicare hospitalization records,
from the years 2003 through 2005, to rate the quality of care at each of
the nation's more than 5,000 nonfederal hospitals.
To help consumers compare the quality of local
hospitals, HealthGrades posts its ratings free of charge on its consumer
Web site, HealthGrades.com, and in its suite of decision-support tools
that major employers and health plans offer as a benefit to employees
and plan members.
"This year's study finds that mortality rates among
Medicare patients continues to decline, however the differences in
patient outcomes between 5-star and 1-star hospitals remains large and
is getting larger, a concerning finding," said Samantha Collier, MD, the
author of the study and the vice president of medical affairs at
HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization.
"But these are more than numbers. According to the
study, more than 300,000 Medicare lives could have been saved during the
three years studied if all hospitals performed at the level of hospitals
rated with 5 stars."
For example, the study shows that a typical patient
having coronary bypass surgery has a 72.9 percent lower risk of
mortality, on average, if they have the procedure at a 5-star rated
hospital compared with a 1-star rated hospital. If all Medicare coronary
bypass surgery patients from 2003 to 2005 went to 5-star hospitals,
5,308 lives could have been saved.
The annual HealthGrades study rates every
nonfederal hospital with a 1-, 3- or 5-star rating indicating poor,
average or excellent outcomes in each of 28 medical categories.
Taken
together, the individual hospital ratings produce the following
findings:
● The nation's in-hospital risk-adjusted
mortality rate improved, on average, 7.89 percent from 2003 to 2005. But
the degree of improvement varied widely by procedure and diagnosis
studied.
● Five-star rated hospitals had significantly
lower risk-adjusted mortality rates across all three years studied and
improved, over the years 2003 to 2005, 19 percent more than the U.S.
hospital average and 57 percent more than 1-star rated hospitals.
● A typical patient would have, on average, a 69
percent lower chance of dying in a 5-star rated hospital compared to a
1-star rated hospital, and a 49 percent lower chance of dying in a
5-star rated hospital compared to the U.S. hospital average.
● If all hospitals performed at the level of a
5-star rated hospital across 18 of the procedures and diagnoses studied,
302,403 Medicare lives could have potentially been saved from 2003
through 2005. Fifty percent of the potentially preventable deaths were
associated with just four diagnoses: Heart Failure, Community Acquired
Pneumonia, Sepsis and Respiratory Failure.
Table: Improvement and Relative Risk Reduction
Associated with U.S. Medicare Hospitalizations by Procedure and
Diagnoses: 2003-2005
|
Hospitalization Diagnosis or Procedure |
Percent
of Improvement U.S. Average (2003-2005) |
Relative
Risk Reduction Associated with 5-Star Hospitals Compared to
1-Star |
Relative
Risk Reduction Associated with 5-Star Hospitals Compared to
National Avg. |
Reduction in Deaths if All Hospitals Operated at 5-Star Level
(2003-2005) |
|
Abdominal
Aortic Aneurysm Repair |
9.20% |
78.51% |
54.88% |
1,443 |
|
Acute
Myocardial Infarction |
4.47% |
48.49% |
29.26% |
29,471 |
|
Atrial
Fibrillation |
13.56% |
89.05% |
73.68% |
5,697 |
|
Bowel
Obstruction |
12.51% |
68.08% |
45.27% |
13,345 |
|
Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease |
9.14% |
74.83% |
52.40% |
14,144 |
|
Community
Acquired Pneumonia |
17.23% |
60.05% |
37.41% |
37,593 |
|
Coronary
Bypass Surgery |
13.59% |
72.90% |
51.66% |
5,308 |
|
Coronary
Interventional Procedures |
-19.60% |
65.92% |
45.01% |
8,065 |
|
Diabetic
Acidosis and Coma |
17.05% |
94.11% |
83.66% |
3,668 |
|
GI Bleed
|
13.61% |
71.05% |
47.05% |
12,894 |
|
GI Surgery
and Procedures |
-0.11% |
57.41% |
34.74% |
18,878 |
|
Heart
Failure |
11.87% |
60.25% |
37.09% |
33,543 |
|
Pancreatitis |
24.72% |
91.12% |
77.91% |
3,558 |
|
Pulmonary
Embolism |
20.07% |
86.14% |
69.82% |
4,694 |
|
Respiratory
Failure |
0.28% |
47.02% |
28.42% |
40,093 |
|
Sepsis
|
8.65% |
47.92% |
27.57% |
38,560 |
|
Stroke
|
8.16% |
50.80% |
30.20% |
27,458 |
|
Valve
Replacement Surgery |
14.54% |
70.69% |
48.79% |
3,991 |
|
TOTAL
|
|
|
|
302,403 |
The full study, along with its methodology, can be found at
http://www.healthgrades.com/media/DMS/pdf/HealthGradesNinthAnnualHospitalQualityinAmericaStudy.pdf.
The full press release can be found at
http://www.healthgrades.com/media/DMS/pdf/HealthGradesHospitalQualityAmerica2007StudyReleaseFinal.pdf
About HealthGrades
Health Grades, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGRD) is the leading
healthcare ratings organization, providing ratings and profiles of
hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. Millions of consumers and many
of the nation's largest employers, health plans and hospitals rely on
HealthGrades' independent ratings and decision-support resources to make
healthcare decisions based on the quality of care. More information on
the company can be found at
http://www.healthgrades.com.
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