Top Hospitals Boast 28% Lower Mortality, 40% Fewer Errors

Choosing a top-rated hospital is much more important than many physicians and patients may realize and may mean the difference between life and death. According to the fifth annual Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study conducted earlier this year by HealthGrades, an independent healthcare-rating company, patients treated at the 5% top-rated hospitals in the United States have an almost 33% better chance of surviving their hospitalization than those treated at other hospitals.

Surgical patients at the same top hospitals had a 5% lower risk of complications during their hospitalization.

The HealthGrades investigators analyzed >40 million Medicare hospitalization records from all 5122 of the nation's nonfederal hospitals. They identified 266 hospitals that ranked in the top 5% nationally for mortality and complication rates involving 26 common procedures and diagnoses. These top 5% hospitals were designated Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.

Key findings of the report showed that:
• Medicare patients admitted to the top hospitals had a 28% lower risk of mortality associated with cardiac surgery, angioplasty and stent procedures, and abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, as well as with treatment for heart attack, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, community-acquired pneumonia, stroke, bowel obstruction, gastrointestinal bleed, pancreatitis, diabetic acidosis and coma, pulmonary embolism, and sepsis

• Medicare patients at the top hospitals had a 5% lower risk of postoperative complications for orthopedic, neurologic, vascular, prostate, and gallbladder surgery

• An estimated 158,264 lives might have been saved, and 12,409 major complications avoided, if quality of care at all US hospitals matched the quality at the top 5% hospitals.

Among this year's distinguished hospitals, 75% were recognized for the same achievement last year.

40% Fewer Medical Errors
Findings from a second study investigating patient safety between 2003 and 2005 show that the rate of medical errors in the hospital continued to increase during this period by 3%, but the rate of patient-safety incidents was 40% lower in the top-performing hospitals than in the other hospitals.

Analysis of 40.56 million Medicare hospitalization records showed the following findings:
• Medical errors continue to be a major concern in the hospital setting, with 1.16 million preventable medical errors occurring in Medicare patients during the 3-year period
• A total of 247,662 deaths were deemed preventable during the same period; patients with ≥1 incident had a 1 in 4 chance of dying
• Excess cost to hospitals from these errors was $8.6 billion in the 3 years
• Medical errors with the highest incidence rate included decubitus ulcers, failure to rescue, and postoperative respiratory failure.

Commenting on these, Samantha Collier, MD, chief medical officer, HealthGrades, said, "The nation's best-performing hospitals are providing benchmarks for the hospital industry."

HealthGrades offers online features that allow visitors to find the rating for each hospital, healthcare facility, or physician. For specific ratings, visit www.healthgrades.com