Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

The relationship between Medicare's process of care quality measures and mortality.

Ryan AM, Burgess JF, Tompkins CP, Wallack SS. The relationship between Medicare's process of care quality measures and mortality. Inquiry : A Journal of Medical Care Organization, Provision and Financing. 2009 Jan 1; 46(3):274-90.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

Using Medicare inpatient claims and Hospital Compare process of care quality data from the period 2004-2006, we estimate two model specifications to test for the presence of correlational and causal relationships between hospital process of care performance measures and risk-adjusted (RA) 30-day mortality for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia. Our analysis indicates that while Hospital Compare process performance measures are correlated with 30-day mortality for each diagnosis, after we account for unobserved heterogeneity, process of care performance is no longer associated with mortality for any diagnosis. This suggests that the relationship between hospital-level process of care performance and mortality is not causal. Implications for pay-for-performance are discussed.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.