GOLDEN, Colo. (October 16, 2006) The largest annual study of hospital quality in America, issued today by HealthGrades, finds a typical patient, on average, has a 69 percent lower chance of dying at the nation's 5-star rated hospitals compared with the 1-star hospitals. This "quality chasm" between the best and poorest-performing hospitals has grown by approximately 5 percent since last year's study, even as overall mortality rates have improved by nearly 8 percent.

The ninth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study analyzes 40.6 million Medicare hospitalization records, from the years 2003 through 2005, to rate the quality of care at each of the nation's more than 5,000 nonfederal hospitals. To help consumers compare the quality of local hospitals, HealthGrades posts its ratings free of charge on its consumer Web site, HealthGrades.com, and in its suite of decision-support tools that major employers and health plans offer as a benefit to employees and plan members.

"This year's study finds that mortality rates among Medicare patients continues to decline, however the differences in patient outcomes between 5-star and 1-star hospitals remains large and is getting larger, a concerning finding," said Samantha Collier, MD, the author of the study and the vice president of medical affairs at HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. "But these are more than numbers. According to the study, more than 300,000 Medicare lives could have been saved during the three years studied if all hospitals performed at the level of hospitals rated with 5 stars."

For example, the study shows that a typical patient having coronary bypass surgery has a 72.9 percent lower risk of mortality, on average, if they have the procedure at a 5-star rated hospital compared with a 1-star rated hospital. If all Medicare coronary bypass surgery patients from 2003 to 2005 went to 5-star hospitals, 5,308 lives could have been save
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Contact: Scott Shapiro
sshapiro@healthgrades.com
720-963-6584
HealthGrades
16-Oct-2006