CMS and the Hospital Quality Alliance on Thursday posted on the Hospital Compare Web site data that provide a broad comparison of mortality rates for heart attack and heart failure in hospital patients, the Baltimore Sun reports (Roylance, Baltimore Sun, 6/22).
According to the New York Times, the federal government in the 1990s ended the release of such data, which "were widely criticized as unfair, because government officials did little to adjust for the relative health of the patients being counted." However, the Bush administration considers the release of such data "an essential part of keeping much of the American health care system in private hands and giving consumers information about how they perform," the Times reports.
In response to some past criticism of the data, researchers from Yale University and Harvard University worked with CMS to develop a detailed statistical analysis to adjust for the relative health and medical histories of hospital patients, according to Yale medical professor Harlan Krumholz (Harris, New York Times, 6/22).
Web Site Data
The Hospital Compare Web site includes data on the 30-day mortality rates for heart attack or heart failure among Medicare beneficiaries treated at more than 4,000 hospitals nationwide from July 2005 to June 2006.
The Web site also does not provide specific data on mortality rates for heart failure for individual hospitals but indicates that 35 facilities had rates lower than the national average, 38 had rates higher than the national average and the remainder had rates near the national average (Baltimore Sun, 6/22).
CMS officials said that they informed hospitals of the data included on the Web site and provided them with additional data compiled by the agency. CMS said that agency quality improvement officials will work with some hospitals to improve their quality of care (Freking, AP/Houston Chronicle, 6/22).
Comments
"The basic concept is to promote quality and to give consumers information they can use to make their decisions in health care," Michael Rapp, CMS director of quality measurement, said (Sternberg, USA Today, 6/22).
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said, "What we're seeing today is a glimpse of what's possible." He added that CMS will release more data on quality of care to the public in the next few years (Graham, Chicago Tribune, 6/22).
Reaction
Officials for the 42 hospitals with heart attack or heart failure mortality rates that exceeded the national average said "either that they were shocked by the numbers or refused to comment at all," the Times reports.
Steven Nissen, chair of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, said that those hospitals "need to look at their systems, processes and education and find out how to get better." Nissen added, "If that's what comes out of all this, that's a huge benefit" (New York Times, 6/22).
Sidney Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen, said that the Web site is "depriving most people in the country of information that could be useful" because of the large number of hospitals considered in the "great unwashed middle" (Baltimore Sun, 6/22).
Broadcast Coverage
ABC's "World New" on Thursday reported on the Web site. The segment includes comments from:
- Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital;
- Krumholz; and
- Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change (Snow, "World News," ABC, 6/21).
A video excerpt of the segment is
available online. Expanded ABC News coverage is
available online.