By Chris Comisac
Bureau Chief
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Dec. 17) – Things continue to improve at many of Pennsylvania’s hospitals, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.
The PHC4’s 2013 Hospital Performance Report (HPR) shows that in-hospital mortality rates decreased significantly statewide between 2008 and 2013 for eight of the 16 illnesses for which mortality was reported. Additionally, none of the reported conditions resulting in mortality showed a statistically significant increase in mortality.
The association representing many of the state’s hospitals and health systems welcomed the report’s findings, stating the findings not only show hospitals saved lives that might have been lost just five years prior, but also that hospitals readmission rates have declined, preventing unnecessary hospitalizations and their associated costs.
“Every life saved is a real patient with family and loved ones, who all have a renewed sense of hope,” said Andy Carter, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania’s (HAP) president and chief executive officer. “The additional lives saved are a testament to the skills and dedication of the state’s doctors, nurses, and other caregivers. This has been, and continues to be, a collaborative, team effort.”
“The decrease in mortality rates in 2013 correlates to the quality of care hospitals, physicians and nurses in the commonwealth provide,” said Joe Martin, PHC4 executive director.
Martin added, “Reduced rates of readmission can point to an improved quality of care and suggest hospitals in the commonwealth are working to help lower overall health care costs.”
The state’s largest physician organization praised the work done by PHC4.
“The Pennsylvania Medical Society has been supportive of PHC4 and its efforts over the years,” said PAMED spokesman Chuck Moran. “Providing quality and proving value in health care is a key piece of the modern day health care puzzle. These types of reports are taken serious by hospitals and physician-led health care teams.”
Added Carter: “These new findings show that Pennsylvania hospitals continue to improve the care they provide through ongoing education and the implementation of best clinical practices. Hospitals continue to push up on the quality, safety, and excellence of medical care, and down on avoidable health care spending.”
Statewide, septicemia (sepsis, or blood poisoning), a life-threatening condition caused by bacteria in the blood that often occurs with severe infections, saw the largest mortality drop – from 18.8 percent to 12.2 percent. According to HAP, that decline means during 2013 Pennsylvania hospitals saved the lives of more than 3,000 septicemia patients who likely may have lost their lives to the infection five years ago.
Other life-threatening conditions that experienced significant declines in mortality include aspiration pneumonia (from 10 percent to 7 percent), heart attack (10.2 to 8.1 percent), acute kidney failure (5.1 to 3.4 percent), stroke (5.1 to 3.7 percent), colorectal procedures (3 to 2 percent), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (1 to 0.6 percent) and kidney and urinary tract infections (0.8 to 0.5 percent).
Hospital readmissions, on a statewide level, due to congestive heart failure – the weakening of the heart’s ability to pump blood – posted the largest significant decrease during the five-year period: 27.2 percent to 23.5 percent.
In addition to a drop in readmission for congestive heart failure, other conditions experiencing a decline in readmission rates include: aspiration pneumonia (from 25 percent to 21.5 percent), acute kidney failure (24 to 21.4 percent), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (22.8 to 20.8 percent), kidney and urinary tract infections (17.6 to 16.1 percent), infectious pneumonia (17 to 16.1 percent), stroke (14.7 to 13.9 percent) and abnormal heartbeat (15 to 14.5 percent).
Similar mortality results were found in the western, central-northeastern, and southeastern regional reports, although in the western region, heart attack mortality experience a larger decrease than septicemia or aspiration pneumonia.
For the regions, readmission rates were more varied: in the west, readmission rates for COPD saw the largest decline, and four other conditions saw declines as well; in the central-northeastern region, the only condition to see a statistically significant decline was congestive heart failure; and in the southeast, seven conditions experienced declines, with the largest one being for aspiration pneumonia.
According to the report, only one condition studied showed a significant increase, statewide, in readmissions between during the five-year period: chest pain, which increased from 11.6 percent to 13.5 percent.
The report also notes that while septicemia mortality declined statewide, it did experience the largest increase with regard to the volume of statewide hospital admissions (not readmissions): 26,832 Pennsylvanians were discharged from the hospital in 2008 after having a diagnosis of septicemia; in 2013, there were 46,813 discharges, or an increase of 74.5 percent from 2008.
Across the country, there are about 750,000 septicemia case each year, affecting between 1 percent and two percent of all hospitalizations, the report explained, using data from the National Institutes of Health.
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