title: A Word of Caution in Public Reporting.
abstract: Public reporting in its current form will lead to confusion amongst physicians, administrators, families, and the media. It is unclear that we are giving the families information they really need. At the current time there is no evidence that public reporting really leads to improved outcomes. Rather, it may lead to risk aversion and limit access to care. This is a problem not just for congenital heart surgery but for the entire field of medicine and the care that we provide to our patients. We must be very careful that we don't create a system where we are afraid to take on a patient with increased risk of mortality because it may affect our overall ranking.
authors.affiliation: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. Electronic address: spray@email.chop.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Spray
authors.affiliation: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: J William
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Gaynor
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D030881:Disclosure; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D016896:Treatment Outcome