Study challenges volume-based quality goals

To date, industry leaders like the Leapfrog Group have assumed that hospitals performing higher volumes of coronary artery bypass grafting were likely to offer better quality care for these patients. However, a new study suggests that this may not be true. A new study, published in the Archives of Surgery, found that CABG mortality in low-volume hospitals fell from 5.9 percent to 3.5 percent over 16 years, while high-volume hospitals saw a decrease from 4.9 percent to 3.1 percent. "High" volume was defined as the facilities hosting 500 or more procedures (the Leapfrog Group's standard), and "low" was 12 to 249 procedures. The data came from discharge data drawn from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from Jan. 1, 1988 to Dec. 31, 2003.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [1] (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
MD companies push Leapfrog participation [2]
Joint Commission says hospitals lag on key quality measures [3]