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Hospital standardized mortality ratio: consequences of adjusting hospital mortality with indirect standardization.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is developed to evaluate and improve hospital quality. Different methods can be used to standardize the hospital mortality ratio. Our aim was to assess the validity and applicability of directly and indirectly standardized hospital mortality ratios. METHODS: Retrospective scenario analysis using routinely collected hospital data to compare deaths predicted by the indirectly standardized case-mix adjustment method with observed deaths. Discharges from Dutch hospitals in the period 2003-2009 were used to estimate the underlying prediction models. We analysed variation in indirectly standardized hospital mortality ratios (HSMRs) when changing the case-mix distributions using different scenarios. Sixty-one Dutch hospitals were included in our scenario analysis. RESULTS: A numerical example showed that when interaction between hospital and case-mix is present and case-mix differs between hospitals, indirectly standardized HSMRs vary between hospitals providing the same quality of care. In empirical data analysis, the differences between directly and indirectly standardized HSMRs for individual hospitals were limited. CONCLUSION: Direct standardization is not affected by the presence of interaction between hospital and case-mix and is therefore theoretically preferable over indirect standardization. Since direct standardization is practically impossible when multiple predictors are included in the case-mix adjustment model, indirect standardization is the only available method to compute the HSMR. Before interpreting such indirectly standardized HSMRs the case-mix distributions of individual hospitals and the presence of interactions between hospital and case-mix should be assessed.

SUBMITTER: Pouw ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3621877 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hospital standardized mortality ratio: consequences of adjusting hospital mortality with indirect standardization.

Pouw Maurice E ME Peelen Linda M LM Lingsma Hester F HF Pieter Daniel D Steyerberg Ewout E Kalkman Cor J CJ Moons Karel G M KG

PloS one 20130409 4

<h4>Background</h4>The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is developed to evaluate and improve hospital quality. Different methods can be used to standardize the hospital mortality ratio. Our aim was to assess the validity and applicability of directly and indirectly standardized hospital mortality ratios.<h4>Methods</h4>Retrospective scenario analysis using routinely collected hospital data to compare deaths predicted by the indirectly standardized case-mix adjustment method with obse ...[more]

PMID: 23593133

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Project description:Despite recent improvements in survival after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), U.S. hospitals vary 2-fold in their 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates (RSMRs). Nevertheless, information is limited on hospital-level factors that may be associated with RSMRs.To identify hospital strategies that were associated with lower RSMRs.Cross-sectional survey of 537 hospitals (91% response rate) and weighted multivariate regression by using data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to determine the associations between hospital strategies and hospital RSMRs.Acute care hospitals with an annualized AMI volume of at least 25 patients.Patients hospitalized with AMI between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009.Hospital performance improvement strategies, characteristics, and 30-day RSMRs.In multivariate analysis, several hospital strategies were significantly associated with lower RSMRs and in aggregate were associated with clinically important differences in RSMRs. These strategies included holding monthly meetings to review AMI cases between hospital clinicians and staff who transported patients to the hospital (RSMR lower by 0.70 percentage points), having cardiologists always on site (lower by 0.54 percentage points), fostering an organizational environment in which clinicians are encouraged to solve problems creatively (lower by 0.84 percentage points), not cross-training nurses from intensive care units for the cardiac catheterization laboratory (lower by 0.44 percentage points), and having physician and nurse champions rather than nurse champions alone (lower by 0.88 percentage points). Fewer than 10% of hospitals reported using at least 4 of these 5 strategies.The cross-sectional design demonstrates statistical associations but cannot establish causal relationships.Several strategies, which are currently implemented by relatively few hospitals, are associated with significantly lower 30-day RSMRs for patients with AMI.The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the United Health Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund.

Project description:BackgroundResults of associations between process and mortality indicators, both used for the external assessment of hospital care quality or public reporting, differ strongly across studies. However, most of those studies were conducted in North America or United Kingdom. Providing new evidence based on French data could fuel the international debate on quality of care indicators and help inform French policy-makers. The objective of our study was to explore whether optimal care delivery in French hospitals as assessed by their Hospital Process Indicators (HPIs) is associated with low Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratios (HSMRs).MethodsThe French National Authority for Health (HAS) routinely collects for each hospital located in France, a set of mandatory HPIs. Five HPIs were selected among the process indicators collected by the HAS in 2009. They were measured using random samples of 60 to 80 medical records from inpatients admitted between January 1st, 2009 and December 31, 2009 in respect with some selection criteria. HSMRs were estimated at 30, 60 and 90 days post-admission (dpa) using administrative health data extracted from the national health insurance information system (SNIIR-AM) which covers 77% of the French population. Associations between HPIs and HSMRs were assessed by Poisson regression models corrected for measurement errors with a simulation-extrapolation (SIMEX) method.ResultsMost associations studied were not statistically significant. Only two process indicators were found associated with HSMRs. Completeness and quality of anesthetic records was negatively associated with 30 dpa HSMR (0.72 [0.52-0.99]). Early detection of nutritional disorders was negatively associated with all HSMRs: 30 dpa HSMR (0.71 [0.54-0.95]), 60 dpa HSMR (0.51 [0.39-0.67]) and 90 dpa HSMR (0.52 [0.40-0.68]).ConclusionIn absence of gold standard of quality of care measurement, the limited number of associations suggested to drive in-depth improvements in order to better determine associations between process and mortality indicators. A smart utilization of both process and outcomes indicators is mandatory to capture aspects of the hospital quality of care complexity.

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Hospital standardized mortality ratio: consequences of adjusting hospital mortality with indirect standardization.

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Hospital standardized mortality ratio: consequences of adjusting hospital mortality with indirect standardization.

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