Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38316594›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2024

Missed opportunities in hospital quality measurement during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective investigation of US hospitals' CMS Star Ratings and 30-day mortality during the early pandemic.

Benjamin D Pollock, Subashnie Devkaran, Sean C Dowdy

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Benjamin D PollockDivision of Health Care Delivery Research, Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA pollock.benjamin@mayo.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-4544-3158
Subashnie DevkaranQuality & Value, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Sean C DowdyQuality & Value, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesIn the USA and UK, pandemic-era outcome data have been excluded from hospital rankings and pay-for-performance programmes. We assessed the relationship between US hospitals' pre-pandemic Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Overall Hospital Star ratings and early pandemic 30-day mortality among both patients with COVID and non-COVID to understand whether pre-existing structures, processes and outcomes related to quality enabled greater pandemic resiliency. DESIGN AND DATA SOURCE: A retrospective, claim-based data study using the 100% Inpatient Standard Analytic File and Medicare Beneficiary Summary File including all US Medicare Fee-for-Service inpatient encounters from 1 April 2020 to 30 November 2020 linked with the CMS Hospital Star Ratings using six-digit CMS provider IDs. OUTCOME MEASURE: The outcome was risk-adjusted 30-day mortality. We used multivariate logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, Elixhauser mortality index, US Census Region, month, hospital-specific January 2020 CMS Star rating (1-5 stars), COVID diagnosis (U07.1) and COVID diagnosis×CMS Star Rating interaction.

resultsWe included 4 473 390 Medicare encounters from 2533 hospitals, with 92 896 (28.2%) mortalities among COVID-19 encounters and 387 029 (9.3%) mortalities among non-COVID encounters. There was significantly greater odds of mortality as CMS Star Ratings decreased, with 18% (95% CI 15% to 22%; p<0.0001), 33% (95% CI 30% to 37%; p<0.0001), 38% (95% CI 34% to 42%; p<0.0001) and 60% (95% CI 55% to 66%; p<0.0001), greater odds of COVID mortality comparing 4-star, 3-star, 2-star and 1-star hospitals (respectively) to 5-star hospitals. Among non-COVID encounters, there were 17% (95% CI 16% to 19%; p<0.0001), 24% (95% CI 23% to 26%; p<0.0001), 32% (95% CI 30% to 33%; p<0.0001) and 40% (95% CI 38% to 42%; p<0.0001) greater odds of mortality at 4-star, 3-star, 2-star and 1-star hospitals (respectively) as compared with 5-star hospitals.

conclusionOur results support a need to further understand how quality outcomes were maintained during the pandemic. Valuable insights can be gained by including the reporting of risk-adjusted pandemic era hospital quality outcomes for high and low performing hospitals.

Indexed as

COVID-19AgedCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.HospitalsHumansMedicarePandemicsReimbursement, IncentiveRetrospective StudiesUnited StatesHospitalsMortalityQuality in health care

Identifiers

PMID38316594
PMCPMC10860033

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.