A performance report of Pennsylvania hospitals shows significant statewide decreases in in-hospital mortality and readmission rates—a trend that mirrors previous performance reports. Released by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4), the annual report, known as the Hospital Performance Report, includes hospital-specific mortality and readmission ratings as well as volume of cases and hospital charges for patients discharged from Pennsylvania’s general acute care hospitals from October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020 (federal fiscal year [FFY] 2020). Statewide trends are also examined.
This year the report excludes the conditions Pneumonia-Aspiration and Pneumonia-Infectious due to limitations in the methods used to account for high-risk patients hospitalized for pneumonia during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, cases with a COVID-19 diagnosis were excluded from the report.
This report includes hospital-specific outcomes for 14 different medical conditions and
surgical procedures, as defined by ICD-10-CM/PCS (International Classification of Diseases,
Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System) codes and Medicare
Severity – Diagnosis-Related Groups (MS-DRGs). All Pennsylvania general acute care and several specialty general acute care hospitals are included. Hospital discharge data compiled for this report was submitted to PHC4 by Pennsylvania hospitals. Medicare fee-for-service payment data was obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Comparing the FFY 2020 results with data from FFY 2015, the report shows significant decreases in statewide in-hospital mortality rates for four of the 13 conditions for which mortality ratings are reported—findings that translate to an estimated 1,205 lives saved in FFY 2020. Readmission rates fell in eleven of the 14 conditions for which readmission rates are reported, suggesting an estimated 2,323 readmissions avoided in these seven treatment areas.
Read more:
- Hospital Performance Report – 2020 Data. PHC4. December 16 2021