The HCFA excess mortality lists: a methodological critique.
The Health Care Financing Administration recently released a list of hospitals with allegedly excessive mortality rates. This paper examines and explains several flaws in the mortality study that are important to consider for proper interpretation and understanding of the HCFA results.
D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D006079:Government Publications as Topic; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000592:standards*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States; D014483:United States Dept. of Health and Human Services