Heart Failure

This measure reports Medicare heart failure patients who die within 30 days of admission to the hospital. This means that we account for deaths that occur in our hospital, as well as deaths that may occur for up to 30 days after leaving SBUH. This is the first time that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have released this data to the public for the time period of July 2007 through June 2010.

Only a portion of our heart failure patients qualify for this measure. For example, this measure only includes patients covered by Medicare. This measure does not include patients that are admitted to SBUH from other hospitals or healthcare organizations.

This measure takes into account that some heart failure patients admitted to SBUH are sicker than others, often having additional medical conditions that make death more likely. This is done so that the SBUH rate can be compared to other hospitals around the country.

The adjusted 30-day mortality rate for SBUH was 8.8% among 466 Medicare patients hospitalized for heart failure at SBUH. This is statistically better than the national rate of 11.3%.

A low score is better than a high score.

	The SBUH 2007-2010 score is for the period July 2007 through June 2010, which is the most recent data available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
	The New York State average score summarizes the average of health care organizations throughout New York State reporting to CMS. Data is not currentyl available.
	The average score is for all hospitals in the United States that care for Medicare patients for the time period July 2007 through June 2010. This average takes into account some patients that are sicker then others, making death more likely. This makes it possible to compare different hospitals across the U.S.
	Top 10% score summarizes results from the best 10% of health care organization reporting to CMS. Data is not currently available.

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