PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: …The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania welcomed the report as evidence that hospitals‘ “commitment to high-quality patient care is paying off.”
In-hospital deaths decreased for patients with aspiration pneumonia (from 10 percent to 7.7 percent), colorectal procedures (3.2 percent to 2.6 percent), kidney and urinary tract infections (1 percent to 0.6 percent) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD (1 percent to 0.8 percent).
Among other significant findings, the council reported that:
• Readmissions decreased significantly for patients with COPD and congestive heart failure.
• Hospital admissions for patients complaining of chest pain dropped 55 percent, but those patients experienced an increase in readmissions.
• Medicare fee-for-service was the primary payer for 41.7 percent of patients admitted with the 12 conditions, at a total cost of $755 million.
• Colorectal procedures had the highest Medicare fee-for-service payment in 2010, at $18,619 per hos, while chest pain was the lowest, at $2,678… (more)
