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High mortality rates found at UPMC Altoona

Agency: Hospital had high death rates for seven conditions

UPMC Altoona had high death rates for seven of 17 medical conditions for which a state agency recently reported outcomes, based on the first three quarters of last year.

UPMC Altoona was the only hospital among eight in the region — Conemaugh Miners, Nason, Penn Highlands Clearfield, Tyrone, UPMC Bedford, J.C. Blair and Mount Nittany were the others — to have high death rates for any of the conditions listed in the report, published this week by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

The hospital’s “higher-than-expected” death rates were for abnormal heartbeat, colorectal procedures, congestive heart failure, acute kidney failure, pneumonia by aspiration, septicemia and stroke.

Asked to respond to the report, the hospital said the findings are out-of-date:

“While UPMC Altoona supports health care quality and reporting initiatives, this PHC4 data, which is more than a year old, does not reflect our improvements in all areas of care,” stated the hospital, in an email provided by spokeswoman Patt Keith.

“With the assistance of clinical and quality experts at UPMC, our physicians and staff have increased patient safety and satisfaction through a number of initiatives — including hospital-wide implementation of electronic health records,” the email stated.

The agency collects data that hospitals are legally required to report and identifies higher-than-expected rates of mortality and readmissions for each condition for each hospital, making adjustments for risk designed to allow for equitable comparisons.

For the mortality ratings, the agency “compares the number of patients one could reasonably expect to die in a given hospital for a given condition” with actual deaths, after accounting for risk, the agency states in a preface to its report.

“Hospitals receive ‘extra credit’ for treating patients who are more seriously ill or at greater risk than others,” the agency states in the preface.

Clinical lab data, age, gender, the presence of cancer, heart failure and other problems are among factors considered in the “complex mathematical formula” that produces the risk adjustments, according to the agency.

The risk adjustments don’t eliminate “Do-Not-Resuscitate” cases, because those are handled differently by different hospitals, according to the agency. “(S)uch records are retained in the analysis to avoid potential biases,” the agency stated.

The General Assembly created PHC4 in 1986, charging it with collecting, analyzing and reporting information that can be used to improve the quality and restrain the cost of health care.

The high-mortality finding for abnormal heartbeat for UPMC Altoona was based on 385 cases; for colorectal procedures, 121 cases; for congestive heart failure, 362 cases; for acute kidney failure, 330 cases; for pneumonia by aspiration, 77 cases; for septicemia, 341 cases; and for stroke, 295 cases.

The number of actual deaths for each of these conditions and the threshold numbers below which there wouldn’t have been findings were not available late Thursday afternoon from the hospital or PHC4.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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