mortality rates
Study: Hospitalists cut stays for complex cases
At least where management of complex cases is concerned, hospitalists can cut patient lengths of stay. According to the research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, patients with... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Life expectancy up for U.S.
Despite increases in mortality for some conditions, life expectancy in the U.S. has reached a new high of 77.9 years in 2005. While mortality rates for respiratory disease, accident, Alzheimer's... Read more...
Researcher challenges FDA approval process
A high-profile researcher has issued what is now one of many public challenges to the manner in which the FDA speeds approval of certain drugs. Researcher Dr. Clifford J. Rosen is concerned, in... Read more...
Study: Gastric bypass reduces mortality for obese
Bariatric surgery is still under fire among many insurers, several of whom are imposing strict restrictions on when they'll provide such surgery. The following study, however, may give those in favor... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Study: Process measures improve outcomes
One of the big knocks on pushing clinicians to follow specific processes--aside from the fact that it makes some feel disempowered--is that it's not clear whether they actually improve outcomes. ... Read more...
New Orleans official challenges death rate data
The city of New Orleans' top medical official is angrily contesting new state data which conflicts with his findings that death rates have risen substantially since Hurricane Katrina. Officials with Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals yesterday released numbers which contradict an analysis by Dr. Kevin Stephens that mortality rates have spiked 47 percent since the disastrous storm. State officials concede that the city is still struggling, but said that Stephens' numbers are …
... Read more...CMS P4P research finds consistency to be key
How can hospitals benefit from the research being done by CMS on pay for performance? In part, just by accepting that improving quality results requires a high level of commitment, according to Richard Norling, CEO of Premier, which runs the P4P pilot on CMS's behalf. Norling, who's in Washington, DC this week for the American Hospital Association's annual meeting, conducted a briefing yesterday on lessons learned from the P4P demonstration program, the Hospital Quality Incentive …
... Read more...Study: More heart attack deaths on weekends
A broad study of New Jersey heart attack patients has found that those who went to the hospital on weekends often got less aggressive treatment. Weekend heart attack patients were slightly more likely to die, as well, according to an analysis of care for 231,164 heart attack patients admitted to New Jersey hospitals from 1987 to 2002. During 1999 to 2002, 12.9 percent of weekend patients died, versus 12 percent of weekday patients. This could be, in part, due to variations in treatment: …
... Read more...Study finds women shortchanged on chemotherapy
Women with little education or low incomes are more likely to get insufficient levels of chemotherapy when being treated for breast cancer, which translates into higher mortality rates for the group.
... Read more...MA lists death rates for individual heart doctors
Starting December 18, Massachusetts officials will begin publishing death rates for individual heart surgeons on a publicly accessible website. The site will offer mortality rate information on 55 surgeons who perform cardiac bypasses, one of the most common operations. In New York, where surgeon mortality data has been available since 1991, officials say the program has lowered death rates. Massachusetts surgeons, for their part, have expressed concern that public reporting will …
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