Case-mix adjusted hospital mortality is a poor proxy for preventable mortality: A modelling study

BMJ Quality and Safety

Volumn 21, Issue 12, 2012, Pages 1052-1056

  Girling, Alan J ^a   Hofer, Timothy P ^b   Wu, Jianhua ^c   Chilton, Peter J ^a   Nicholl, Jonathan P ^d   Mohammed, Mohammed A ^a   Lilford, Richard J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

^b VA ANN ARBOR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM   (United States)

^c QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^d UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; MATHEMATICAL MODEL; OUTCOME ASSESSMENT; PREDICTIVE VALUE; RISK ASSESSMENT; STANDARDIZED MORTALITY RATIO; DIAGNOSIS RELATED GROUP; EPIDEMIOLOGY; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HUMAN; MORTALITY; PROCEDURES; PROXY;

DIAGNOSIS-RELATED GROUPS; EPIDEMIOLOGIC METHODS; HOSPITAL MORTALITY; HUMANS; PREDICTIVE VALUE OF TESTS; PROXY; QUALITY INDICATORS, HEALTH CARE; RISK ADJUSTMENT;

EID: 84871936490     PISSN: 20445415     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001202     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Department of Health and Human Services. Medicare Hospital Mortality Information 1986. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1987.
2. Blumberg MS. Biased estimates of expected acute myocardial infarction mortality using MedisGroups admission severity groups. JAMA 1991;265:2965-70.
3. Greenfield S, Aronow HU, Elashoff RM, et al. Flaws in mortality data. The hazards of ignoring comorbid disease. JAMA 1988;260:2253-5.
4. Hofer TP, Hayward RA. Identifying poor-quality hospitals. Can hospital mortality rates detect quality problems for medical diagnoses? Med Care 1996;34:737-53.
5. Park RE, Brook RH, Kosecoff J, et al. Explaining variations in hospital death rates. Randomness, severity of illness, quality of care. JAMA 1990;264:484-90.
6. Rosen HM, Green BA. The HCFA excess mortality lists: a methodological critique. Hosp Health Serv Adm 1987;32:119-27.
7. Sanazaro PJ, Mills DH. A critique of the use of generic screening in quality assessment. JAMA 1991;265:1977-81.
8. Hannan EL, Arani DT, Johnson LW, et al. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in New York State. Risk factors and outcomes. JAMA 1992;268:3092-7.
9. Hannan EL, Kilburn H Jr, Lindsey ML, et al. Clinical versus administrative data bases for CABG surgery. Does it matter? Med Care 1992;30:892-907.
10. Hartz AJ, Kuhn EM, Kayser KL, et al. Assessing providers of coronary revascularization: a method for peer review organizations. Am J Public Health 1992;82:1631-40.
11. Iezzoni LI, Ash AS, Coffman GA, et al. Predicting in-hospital mortality. A comparison of severity measurement approaches. Med Care 1992;30:347-59.
12. 111th United States Congress. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. H.R. 3590. 2009.
13. Cassel JB, Jones AB, Meier DE, et al. Hospital mortality rates: how is palliative care taken into account? J Pain Symptom Manag 2010;40:914-25.
14. Department of Health. Health and Social Care Bill 2010-11 (55/1). Norwich, UK: The Stationery Office, 2011.
15. Department of Health. Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS. (CM7881). Norwich, UK: The Stationery Office Limited, 2010.
16. Dr Foster Limited. Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2010. What Makes a Good Hospital? http://www.drfosterhealth.co.uk/docs/hospital-guide-2010.pdf (accessed 28 May 2012).
17. Jarman B, Aylin P, Bottle A. Hospital mortality ratios. A plea for reason. BMJ 2010;340:c2744.
18. Campbell M, Jacques RM, Fotheringham J, et al. Developing a summary hospital mortality index: retrospective analysis in English hospitals over five years. BMJ 2012;344:e1001.
19. National Quality Board. Report from the Steering Group for the National Review of the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (Gateway Reference: 15066). http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod-consum-dh/groups/dh-digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/ digitalasset/dh-121328.pdf (accessed 29 May 2012).
20. Mohammed MA, Deeks JJ, Girling A, et al. Evidence of methodological bias in hospital standardised mortality ratios: retrospective database study of English hospitals. BMJ 2009;338:b780.
21. Pitches DW, Mohammed MA, Lilford RJ. What is the empirical evidence that hospitals with higher-risk adjusted mortality rates provide poorer quality care? A systematic review of the literature. BMC Health Serv Res 2007;7:91.
22. Shahian DM, Wolf RE, Iezzoni LI, et al. Variability in the measurement of hospital-wide mortality rates. N Engl J Med 2010;363:2530-9.
23. The Health and Social Care Information Centre. HESonline: freely available data. http://www.hesonline.nhs.uk/Ease/servlet/ContentServer?siteID= 1937&categoryID=889 (accessed 28 May 2012).
24. Zegers M, de Bruijne MC, Spreeuwenberg P, et al. Variation in the rates of adverse events between hospitals and hospital departments. Int J Qual Health Care 2011;23:126-33.
25. Dubois RW, Brook RH. Preventable deaths: who, how often, and why? Ann Intern Med 1988;109:582-9.
26. Hayward RA, Heisler M, Adams J, et al. Overestimating outcome rates: statistical estimation when reliability is suboptimal. Health Serv Res 2007;42:1718-38.
27. Rubenstein LV, Kahn KL, Reinisch EJ, et al. Changes in quality of care for five diseases measured by implicit review, 1981 to 1986. JAMA 1990;264:1974-9.
28. Hayward RA, Hofer TP. Estimating hospital deaths due to medical errors: preventability is in the eye of the reviewer. JAMA 2001;286:415-20.
29. Francis R. The Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry. Independent Inquiry into Care Provided by Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. January 2005-March 2009. Volume 1. HC375-I. London, UK: The Stationary Office, 2010.
30. Lilford R, Pronovost P. Using hospital mortality rates to judge hospital performance: a bad idea that just won't go away. BMJ 2010;340:c2016.
31. Lilford R, Mohammed MA, Spiegelhalter D, et al. Use and misuses of process and outcome data in managing performance of acute medical care: avoiding institutional stigma. Lancet 2004;363:1147-54.
32. Zegers M, de Bruijne MC, Wagner C, et al. Adverse events and potentially preventable deaths in Dutch hospitals: results of a retrospective patient record review study. Qual Saf Health Care 2009;18:297-302.
33. Hogan H, Healey F, Neale G, et al. Preventable deaths due to problems in care in English acute hospitals: a retrospective case record review study. BMJ Qual Saf Published online first 7 July 2012. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001159
34. Pronovost P, Needham D, Berenholtz S, et al. An intervention to decrease catheter-related bloodstream infections in the ICU. N Engl J Med 2006;355:2725-32.
35. Bergstrom N, Braden B, Boynton P, et al. Using a research-based assessment scale in clinical practice. Nurs Clin North Am 1995;30:539-51.