Longwoods eLetter

Longwoods eLetter November 29, 2007 | Special Issue on HSMR

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“Why track deaths?”
1. Significant numbers of deaths associated with adverse events in health care. 2. It’s a definite, unique event. 3. Complements currently-available regional mortality rates for specific conditions e.g. AMI & stroke survival rates. 4. Emerging evidence that institution-level death rates can motivate improvement and can be changed.” Jennifer Zelmer, Vice President, CIHI in a presentation two years ago.

OFF THE CUFF:

Released today: HSMR: A New Approach for Measuring Hospital Mortality Trends in Canada

HSMR: A New Approach for Measuring Hospital Mortality Trends in Canada is the first report about the hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) and its adaptation for use in Canada. The HSMR is a big-dot summary measure that has been used to help inform efforts to improve hospital care. This report includes the first publicly available HSMR trends for large health regions and hospitals in Canada (excluding Quebec). Released today, November 29, 2007.

The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is an important new measure that can help support efforts to improve patient safety and quality of care in Canadian hospitals. The HSMR compares the actual number of deaths in a hospital with the average Canadian experience, after adjusting for several factors that may affect in-hospital mortality rates, such as the age, sex, diagnoses and admission status of patients. The ratio provides a starting point to assess mortality rates and identify areas for improvement, which may help to reduce hospital deaths from adverse events.

Available reports

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This eLetter supported by Healthcare Quarterly.

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