Variation in hospital mortality associated with inpatient surgery.
BACKGROUND
Hospital mortality that is associated with inpatient surgery varies widely. Reducing rates of postoperative complications, the current focus of payers and regulators, may be one approach to reducing mortality. However, effective management of complications once they have occurred may be equally important.


METHODS
We studied 84,730 patients who had undergone inpatient general and vascular surgery from 2005 through 2007, using data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. We first ranked hospitals according to their risk-adjusted overall rate of death and divided them into five groups. For hospitals in each overall mortality quintile, we then assessed the incidence of overall and major complications and the rate of death among patients with major complications.


RESULTS
Rates of death varied widely across hospital quintiles, from 3.5% in very-low-mortality hospitals to 6.9% in very-high-mortality hospitals. Hospitals with either very high mortality or very low mortality had similar rates of overall complications (24.6% and 26.9%, respectively) and of major complications (18.2% and 16.2%, respectively). Rates of individual complications did not vary significantly across hospital mortality quintiles. In contrast, mortality in patients with major complications was almost twice as high in hospitals with very high overall mortality as in those with very low overall mortality (21.4% vs. 12.5%, P<0.001). Differences in rates of death among patients with major complications were also the primary determinant of variation in overall mortality with individual operations.


CONCLUSIONS
In addition to efforts aimed at avoiding complications in the first place, reducing mortality associated with inpatient surgery will require greater attention to the timely recognition and management of complications once they occur.
Ghaferi
Amir A
AA
Michigan Surgical Collaborative for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, the Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48104, USA. aghaferi@umich.edu
Birkmeyer
John D
JD
Dimick
Justin B
JB
D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000401:mortality*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology