AHRQ Study Calculates Adverse Events Among Heart Attack Patients Treated at Hospitals With Poor Safety Performance

Hospitals with poor patient safety performance tended to have higher all-cause mortality and unplanned readmission rates for Medicare patients who were discharged following a heart attack, an AHRQ-funded study found. Researchers used 2009–2013 patient safety data from AHRQ’s Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System, along with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hospital mortality and readmission data, to conduct an analysis of heart attack patients in 793 acute-care hospitals. Hospitals’ patient safety ratings are based on 21 in-hospital adverse event measures. Researchers found that a 1 percent increase in adverse events was associated with average 4.9 percent increase in mortality and a 3.4 percent increase in unplanned readmission rates. The study, “Association Between Hospital Performance on Patient Safety and 30-Day Mortality and Unplanned Readmission for Medicare Fee-for-Service Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction,” and abstract appeared in the July issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association.