HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rosenthal, G E Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rosenthal, G E

Weak associations between hospital mortality rates for individual diagnoses: implications for profiling hospital quality.

G E Rosenthal

Department of Medicine, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, OH 44106, USA.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the consistency of hospital mortality rates across different diagnoses. METHODS: Standardized mortality ratios for patients discharged in 1991 from US hospitals were determined via the Medicare Hospital Information Report. RESULTS: Correlations between standardized mortality ratios for different diagnoses were relatively weak, ranging from .03 to .34. Agreement between hospital rankings (based on standardized mortality ratios), as measured by the weighted kappa statistic, was also weak. CONCLUSIONS: The present results indicate that hospital mortality rates for individual diagnoses are weakly associated. Thus, it may not be valid to generalize conclusions about hospital performance from a single diagnosis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. B. Mukamel, D. R. Peterson, A. Bajorska, H. Temkin-Greener, S. Kunitz, D. Gross, and T. F. Williams Variations in risk-adjusted outcomes in a managed acute/long-term care program for frail elderly individuals Int. J. Qual. Health Care, August 1, 2004; 16(4): 293 - 301. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I Scott, D Youlden, and M Coory Are diagnosis specific outcome indicators based on administrative data useful in assessing quality of hospital care? Qual. Saf. Health Care, February 1, 2004; 13(1): 32 - 39. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. D. Spector and D. B. Mukamel Using Outcomes to Make Inferences about Nursing Home Quality Eval Health Prof, September 1, 1998; 21(3): 291 - 315. [Abstract] [PDF]