Regional variation in Medicare hospital mortality.
This study examines variation in severity-adjusted Medicare hospital mortality rates across nine U.S. census regions. The extent to which regional variation is reduced by controlling for differences in hospital resources and structure, county-level population characteristics, and the level of federal SuperPRO-identified hospital quality problems is estimated. Hospital resources, population characteristics, and SuperPro process quality scores are significant predictors of hospital mortality rates, but they do not explain the important, highly significant regional differences observed after controlling for hospital case-mix severity.
Manheim
L M
LM
Center for Health Services and Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60201.
Feinglass
J
J
Shortell
S M
SM
Hughes
E F
EF
D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D003710:Demography; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011156:Population Density; D011366:Professional Review Organizations; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States