Hospitals need better ranking for mortality, readmissions

Following a study that found hospital rankings and mortality rates are statistically imprecise and based on chance comes new research that two hospital ranking methods are only moderately correlated to mortality or readmission rates.

Researchers compared the opportunity-based and the all-or-none composite performance measures on hospital rankings with primary outcomes of 30-day mortality and readmission rates for coronary artery disease, according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Although the two methods use different formulas to calculate composite scores, they were significantly correlated with one another; the median opportunity-based score was 95.5 percent, and the median all-or-none score was 88.9 percent. Both scoring methods had only a modest correlation with the 30-day mortality rates, but neither correlated with readmissions--a figure which could be cause for concern.

"Identifying process measures that are associated with early readmission and/or a composite scoring method that can integrate recommended processes of care together with 30-day readmission rates is of significant importance to hospitals as they face potential reductions in Medicare payments for excess hospital readmissions, beginning on Oct. 1, 2012," the authors wrote, notes HealthImaging.

The authors recommended exploring the various approaches to calculating composite scores, and comparing the conclusions that each composite score offers on the same set of performance measures. Greater variation in scores could help uncover best practices among hospitals, they noted.

For more information:
- read the HealthImaging article
- here's the study abstract