Interpreting your Medicare mortality rates.
Each year, hospitals are provided data on actual and predicted mortality rates for their Medicare patients. This article explains how the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) calculates the actual and predicted death rates, gives details on a method by which hospitals can determine if their actual death rates are significantly better or worse than HCFA's predicted death rates, and suggests a strategy for identifying opportunities for improvement when actual mortality rates are significantly different from predicted rates.
University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
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D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D002985:Clinical Protocols / Q000592:standards; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000401:mortality; D005544:Forecasting; D017052:Hospital Mortality / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016011:Normal Distribution; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States