Key Findings

How did Utah quality of care compare with the nation in 2003 through 2005

For in-hospital deaths, Utah overall had fewer adult heart failure deaths than expected compared to similar patients nationwide.  Utah overall had about as many deaths as expected for heart bypass surgery, balloon angioplasty and heart attacks compared to similar patients nationwide. Utah overall means all Utah hospitals combined.  Measures used are in parentheses. For more details, see the Technical Document

From 2003 through 2005, in Utah hospitals that treated at least 30 patients with this procedure or condition:

• 202 out of 5,335 heart bypass surgery patients died (AHRQ IQI 19).
• 231 out of 14,722 balloon angioplasty patients died (AHRQ IQI 30).
• 442 out of 6,466 heart attack patients died (AHRQ IQI 32).
• 438 out of 10,319 heart failure patients died (AHRQ IQI 16).

When the patients at each Utah hospital are compared to similar patients nationwide (based on a statistical test, the Exact 95% Confidence Interval):

• Most hospitals had about the same percentage of in-hospital heart failure deaths as expected.  Four hospitals had a lower percentage and two hospitals had a higher percentage than expected. Three additional hospitals treated at least 30 heart failure patients and had no in-hospital deaths among these patients from 2003 through 2005. 
• All Utah hospitals had about the same percentage of in-hospital adult heart patient deaths as expected for heart bypass, balloon angioplasty and heart attacks. 

Note that many factors can affect in-hospital deaths at a particular hospital.  Read more in “About the Report”.

How did hospital charges differ among Utah hospitals?

Average hospital charge among adult inpatients for the heart procedures and conditions in this report differed widely in 2005. Measures used are in parentheses. For more details, see the Technical Document.  For patients at the minor/moderate illness level, average hospital charge ranged from:

• $2,492 to $15,518 among 39 Utah hospitals that reported charges for heart failure patients (APR-DRG 194). 
• $8,756 to $16,340 among 15 Utah hospitals that reported charges for heart catheterization for ischemic disease (APR-DRG 192).
• $54,636 to $94,976 among 8 Utah hospitals that reported charges for heart valve procedures with heart catheterization (APR-DRG 162).

As expected, average hospital charge for patients treated at the major/extreme illness level was higher.

Note: Many factors will affect hospital charges. Read more in About the Report.

CMS treatment process measures
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) have created a web site. This site shows consumers how often hospitals throughout the nation use accepted treatment for heart patients and other kinds of patients.  Read more...