medical benchmarking

Top-Rated Hospitals Continue to Deliver Better Care

THURSDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Patients admitted to the top-rated hospitals in the United States have an average 27 percent lower risk of dying than patients admitted to other hospitals in the country, a new study shows.

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Released Thursday by HealthGrades, an independent health-care ratings organization, the analysis of 27 procedures and diagnoses also found that patients who have surgery at the top-rated hospitals have an average 5 percent lower risk of complications during their hospital stay.
For this study, researchers analyzed nearly 41 million hospitalizations in 2004, 2005 and 2006 at all 4,971 of the nation's non-federal hospitals. If all hospitals had the quality of care of the top 5 percent of those hospitals, 171,424 lives may have been saved, and 9,671 major complications may have been avoided during the three years studied.
The study also found that the top 5 percent of hospitals lowered their in-hospital risk-adjusted death rates over those three years by an average of 15 percent.
The procedures and diagnoses included in the analysis included: cardiac surgery; angioplasty and stenting; heart attack; heart failure; atrial fibrillation; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; community-acquired pneumonia; stroke; abdominal aortic aneurysm repair; bowel obstruction; gastrointestinal bleeding; pancreatitis; diabetic acidosis and coma; pulmonary embolism; and sepsis.