Death Rate May Not Be A Good Indicator Of Hospital Quality

By Fred Lee

Inpatient hospital death rates are often used as a way to measure the quality of care of hospitals and are a determining factor in whether a hospital is investigated regarding its level of service. However, this method is being called into question as a way to judge the performance of a health care facility.

The reason for this is due to the fact that hospital mortality rates measure all deaths that occur on the premises, including the ones that might not have been preventable because the individual was too sick or injured at the time of admission. In light of this, a recent paper, published in the British Medical Journal, argues that this is not an actual measure of how well a hospital functions.

Source : http://healthcarehacks.com