Mortality Rate Is Not a Valid Indicator of Quality Differences Between Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Programs

Annals of Thoracic Surgery

Volumn 89, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 139-146

  Welke, Karl F ^a   Karamlou, Tara ^b   Ungerleider, Ross M ^c   Diggs, Brian S ^a  

^a OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDICAL SCHOOL   (United States)

^c CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE; HEART SURGERY; HUMAN; PEDIATRIC SURGERY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; QUALITY CONTROL; SURGICAL MORTALITY; UNITED STATES;

CARDIAC SURGICAL PROCEDURES; HEART DEFECTS, CONGENITAL; HOSPITAL MORTALITY; HUMANS; INFANT; INFANT, NEWBORN; PROGNOSIS; QUALITY INDICATORS, HEALTH CARE; RISK ASSESSMENT; RISK FACTORS; SURVIVAL RATE; UNITED STATES;

EID: 76449087963     PISSN: 00034975     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2009.08.058     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. Pediatric Congenital Cardiac Surgery in New York State 2002-2005 (2007), New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY
2. The Leapfrog Group. http://www.leapfroggroup.org Accessed January 28, 2009
3. National Quality Forum. http://www.qualityforum.org Accessed January 28, 2009
4. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. http://www.ahrq.gov Accessed January 28, 2009
5. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database Executive Summary, fall 2008 harvest. http://www.sts.org/documents/pdf/ndb/Fall2008STSCONG-ALLPatientsSUMMARY.pdf Accessed January 28, 2009
6. Dimick J.B., Welch H.G., and Birkmeyer J.D. Surgical mortality as an indicator of hospital quality: the problem with small sample size. JAMA 292 (2004) 847-851
7. HCUP Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). 2000-2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nisoverview.jsp Accessed January 28, 2009
8. Jenkins K.J., and Gauvreau K. Center-specific differences in mortality: preliminary analyses using the Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) method. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 124 (2002) 97-104
9. Boethig D., Jenkins K.J., Hecker H., Thies W.R., and Breymann T. The RACHS-1 risk categories reflect mortality and length of hospital stay in a large German pediatric cardiac surgery population. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 26 (2004) 12-17
10. Kang N., Cole T., Tsang V., Elliot M., and de Leval M. Risk stratification in paediatric open-heart surgery. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 26 (2004) 3-11
11. Welke K.F., Shen I., and Ungerleider R.M. Current assessment of mortality rates in congenital cardiac surgery. Ann Thorac Surg 82 (2006) 164-171
12. Al-Radi O.O., Harrell Jr. F.E., Caldarone C.A., et al. Case complexity scores in congenital heart surgery: a comparative validation study of the Aristotle Basic Complexity score and the Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) system. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 133 (2007) 865-875
13. Donabedian A. Evaluating the quality of medical care. Milbank Mem Fund Q 8344 (1966) 166-206
14. Cronk C.E., Malloy M.E., Pelech A.N., et al. Completeness of state administrative databases for surveillance of congenital heart disease. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol 67 (2003) 597-603
15. Frohnert B.K., Lussky R.C., Alms M.A., et al. Validity of hospital discharge data for identifying infants with cardiac defects. J Perinatol 25 (2005) 737-742
16. Welke K.F., Diggs B.S., Karamlou T., and Ungerleider R.M. The relationship between hospital surgical case volumes and mortality rates in pediatric cardiac surgery: a national sample 1988-2005. Ann Thorac Surg 86 (2008) 889-896
17. Chang R.K., and Kiltzner T.S. Can regionalization decrease the number of deaths for children who undergo cardiac surgery?. A theoretical analysis. Pediatrics 109 (2002) 173-181