Key Findings

How did Utah quality of care compare with the nation in 2004 through 2006?

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.  For more details, see the Technical Document.

In Utah hospitals that treated patients with this procedure or condition:

• 181 (3.5%) of 5,112 heart bypass surgery patients died (AHRQ IQI 12).
• 250  (1.6%) of 15,839 balloon angioplasty patients died (AHRQ IQI 30).
• 418  (6.4%) of 6,582  heart attack patients died (AHRQ IQI 32)
• 409 (4.0%) of 10,165 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):

• Utah overall had a lower percentage of in-hospital deaths among adult heart failure patients than expected.  Most hospitals had about the same percentage of in-hospital heart failure deaths as expected.  Two hospitals had a lower percentage and one hospital had a higher percentage than expected.
• Utah overall had about the same percentage of in-hospital deaths for adult heart attack, heart bypass surgery and balloon angioplasty patients as expected.  One hospital had a higher percentage of heart attack deaths than expected.  One hospital had a higher percentage of heart bypass surgery deaths than expected.

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 2006. For more details, see the Technical Document. For patients at the minor/moderate illness level, average hospital charge ranged from:

• $1,020 to $15,047 among 38 Utah hospitals that reported charges for heart failure patients (APR-DRG 194). 
• $9,005 to $18,279 among 16 Utah hospitals that reported charges for heart catheterization for ischemic disease (APR-DRG 192).
• $60,949 to $91,807 among 7 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 at the HospitalCompare website