title: Using National Inpatient Death Rates as a Benchmark to Identify Hospitals with Inaccurate Cause of Death Reporting - Missouri, 2009-2012.
abstract: Reporting causes of death accurately is essential to public health and hospital-based programs; however, some U.S. studies have identified substantial inaccuracies in cause of death reporting. Using CDC's national inpatient hospital death rates as a benchmark, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) analyzed inpatient death rates reported by hospitals with high inpatient death rates in St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas. Among the selected hospitals with high inpatient death rates, 45.8% of death certificates indicated an underlying cause of death that was inconsistent with CDC's Guidelines for Death Certificate completion. Selected hospitals with high inpatient death rates were more likely to overreport heart disease and renal disease, and underreport cancer as an underlying cause of death. Based on these findings, the Missouri DHSS initiated a new web-based training module for death certificate completion based on the CDC guidelines in an effort to improve accuracy in cause of death reporting.
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jahanpour
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Angell
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: Cherri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baysinger
authors.affiliation: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turabelidze
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking / Q000379:methods*; D002423:Cause of Death; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D003644:Death Certificates; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008923:Missouri / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology