Medicare Hospital Compare Quality Reporting Has Limited Effect On Patient Mortality Rates

Hospital Compare, Medicare’s public reporting initiative for hospitals, has had a minimal impact on reducing 30-day patient mortality rates. In a study on the differences in patients' 30-day mortality rates for three conditions before and after the reporting initiative started in 2005, mortality for heart failure dropped from 10.1% to  8.8%; the mortality rate for heart attack dropped from 17.8% to 14.8%; and the mortality rate for pneumonia dropped from 11.7% to 9.1%. However, further analysis revealed no reduction over time in the risk that patients with heart attack or pneumonia . . .