consumer reports: more hospitals must publicly report cardiac surgery results, patient outcomes

How many heart surgery procedures were performed in 2015?

Despite the complexity, doctors performed more than 200,000 such procedures in the U.S. in 2015.

Where did Bill Paxton get his heart valve replaced?

Doctors replace a faulty heart valve at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System . The actor Bill Paxton entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles last February for surgery to fix a faulty heart valve and a bulge in a major artery. But after 11 days, Paxton, then 61, died. Now, in a lawsuit against the surgeon and ...

What is CABG in surgery?

1. Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG)#N#Plaque that grows in the heart’s arteries can prevent the organ from getting enough oxygen-rich blood. To fix the problem, a surgeon takes healthy sections of a vein or artery from your leg or chest wall and uses them to bypass blockages in up to four arteries.

Can patients see where they will have surgery?

At her hospital, patients can see where they will have surgery and where they will recover, and connect with former patients, she says. Doctors should also discuss the potential benefits of the surgery but be honest about the risks, too, so patients can make fully informed decisions.

Is heart surgery scary?

For experienced surgeons, the procedures can sometimes seem almost routine. But for patients and their families, the prospect of heart surgery can be scary. When Sharran Greenberg, an attorney in Chicago, learned that she needed a heart valve replaced, she decided to face that fear head on.

How much money did the government give to hospitals?

The federal government recently provided funding of $218 million to 26 hospital groups nationwide to improve hospital safety and provided up to $500 million for programs to help Medicare patients transition from hospital to home. And hospitals now have financial incentives to use electronic health records.

What percentage of hospitals have double scans?

Double scans of the abdomen are needed more frequently, often to define abnormalities in the liver, kidney, and pancreas, he says. But only 28 percent of the hospitals in our Ratings had double-scan rates of 5 percent or less in both categories, which is the cutoff we use for a top rating.

What causes infections after surgery?

We rate hospitals on infections that develop after surgery, those caused by central-line catheters in intensive-care units, or both.

How much has Baylor University reduced sepsis?

Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, one of our highest-scoring teaching hospitals, says it saw a 23 percent reduction in sepsis, a particularly serious infection, and a 34 percent decline in preventable deaths since 2006.

What is postoperative sepsis?

6. Postoperative sepsis. This occurs when a serious infection overwhelms the body, leading to failure of the kidneys, liver, lungs, and other organs. Make sure that everyone who touches you washes their hands and that the hospital follows infection-prevention guidelines.

Why do hospitals submit data to national registries?

Plus, some hospitals submit data to national registries so that they can see how they stack up against one another.

What happens when you leave the operating room?

You react badly to anesthesia, or suffer breathing or heart problems. Or maybe the surgeon nicks a blood vessel, leaves an instrument inside, or even operates on the wrong body part. Less dramatic but often as serious and far more common is when things go wrong after you leave the operating room. Up to 30 percent of patients suffer infections, ...

Why do patients get blood clots during surgery?

Surgery patients are also prone to blood clots, in part because reduced mobility prevents blood from circulating. Clots that break off and travel to the heart or lungs can be deadly.

Do hospitals have incentive to improve patient safety?

Unfortunately, hospitals often have little incentive to improve patient safety. The longer a patient stays in the hospital and the more tests and treatments he or she undergoes, the more money the hospital often makes, according to a study in the April 17, 2013, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Does hospital choice matter?

Hospital choice matters more for some procedures than for others. For example, we found wider variation for several surgeries, including hip and knee replacements and back surgery, than for others, such as colon surgery and hysterectomy. Specialty hospitals tended to do better.

Can clots travel to the heart?

Clots that break off and travel to the heart or lungs can be deadly. And the combination of lying flat and shallow breathing hampers the body’s ability to clear the lungs, leaving patients susceptible to pneumonia. Those are the most common serious complications.

Do Consumer Reports ratings account for the increased risk of patients?

He adds that the hospital often cares for complex cases and that Consumer Reports’ surgery Ratings don’t “account for the increased risk of these patients.”. Even hospitals recognized by experts as meeting a rigorous set of industry standards often don’t perform better than others.

What is Act 53 report card?

Vermont 2020 hospital ratings are called Act 53 report cards – legislation passed in 2003, requiring VT hospitals to publish annual community reports about hospital quality, safety, financial health, costs for services and more. This government site links the data, including outpatient prices. See if your VT hospital is average, above average, or below average. Health conditions include heart care, pneumonia, surgical infection prevention, central line associated bloodstream infections, c. diff. infections, hysterectomy infections, knee replacement and hip replacement infection rates, volume and death rates, readmissions, psychiatric hospital quality & more. This site permits access to Quality Ratings, Survival Rate information, links to patient satisfaction and current medical prices all on the same web page for easy access. Nurse staffing also available for 2020. Dates for other reports vary, usually up to 2018 or 2019 data. Information on prices for some procedures, and services such as physician office visits also available. Published at healthvermont.gov April-May 2020.

What are the topics covered in the ER?

Topics include different types of infections, emergency department (ER) waiting time, heart conditions, pneumonia, COPD, hip and knee surgery, imaging, stroke, maternity and newborn care, surgery infections for hysterectomy, colon surgery and more. Search by condition or procedure might be the most helpful.