CANCER AND MEDICARE HOSPITAL MORTALITY

The Health Care Financing Administration, along with the Department of Health and Human Services, monitors the Medicare program and the quality of health care received by Medicare beneficiaries in part through a yearly analysis of mortality rates at acute care facilities. The following chart, based on hospital mortality data, lists information about cancer deaths for the years 1986 through 1988.

The cases category lists the number of patients whose condition was diagnosed principally as cancer. The mortality data is given as Actual and Predicted. Actual is the percentage of patients discharged in the calendar year who died within 30 days of last admission to the hospital; Predicted indicates an estimate of the probability of death based on case characteristics such as principal diagnosis, age, sex and the number of hospital admissions within the previous six months.

1988 MORTALITY (%) Hospitals Cases Actual Predicted Anaheim General 34 26.5 4.1-41.7 Anaheim Memorial 119 15.1 9.2-33.7 Buena Park Community 0 -- -- Buena Park Doctors 6 16.7 0.0-100.0 Chapman General 31 32.3 10.3-52.2 Coastal Communities 20 35.0 0.8-53.7 Costa Mesa Medical Center 13 38.5 0.0-100.0 FHP--Fountain Valley 284 15.8 8.0-29.7 Fountain Valley Community 78 25.6 14.7-43.0 Hoag Hospital 302 22.8 13.4-35.3 Humana-Huntington Beach 49 26.5 6.6-38.2 Humana-West Anaheim 59 28.8 15.0-46.1 Humana-Westminster 42 42.9 15.7-52.1 Kaiser Foundation-Anaheim 120 26.7 12.7-37.7 La Palma Medical Center 4 25.0 0.0-100.0 Los Alamitos Medical Center 133 18.8 8.1-32.0 Martin Luther Med Center 77 32.5 9.9-37.4 Medical Center of Garden Grove 50 28.0 8.3-40.2 Mission Regional Med Center 146 27.4 13.6-37.8 Placentia-Linda Community 52 25.0 8.7-40.1 Saddleback Hospital & Health Center 320 21.9 9.8-31.3 San Clemente General 66 27.3 10.9-39.9 Santa Ana Medical Center 16 25.0 0.0-100.0 South Coast Medical Center 102 15.7 8.2-33.3 St. Joseph 281 31.0 12.9-34.9 St. Jude 208 22.1 9.5-32.0 St. Jude Yorba Linda 7 28.6 0.0-100.0 UCI Medical Center 87 24.1 13.2-40.3 Western Medical Center Anaheim 12 41.7 10.5-88.2 Western Medical Center Santa Ana 137 16.8 12.1-36.4

1987 MORTALITY (%) Hospitals Cases Actual Predicted Anaheim General 36 30.6 11.7-51.7 Anaheim Memorial 123 28.5 13.8-38.7 Buena Park Community 9 22.2 0.0-100.0 Buena Park Doctors 3 0.0 0.0-100.0 Chapman General 28 25.0 3.2-47.6 Coastal Communities 30 36.7 6.4-49.8 Costa Mesa Medical Center 18 33.3 1.5-61.8 FHP--Fountain Valley 169 17.2 7.7-30.4 Fountain Valley Community 68 38.2 14.9-44.7 Hoag Hospital 318 21.7 13.2-34.7 Humana-Huntington Beach 61 24.6 9.7-39.7 Humana-West Anaheim 34 29.4 6.6-46.6 Humana-Westminster 45 35.6 13.7-49.3 Kaiser Foundation-Anaheim 143 25.2 12.9-36.9 La Palma Medical Center 14 7.1 0.0-100.0 Los Alamitos Medical Center 148 27.0 8.3-31.6 Martin Luther Med Center 75 26.7 6.4-33.3 Medical Center of Garden Grove 69 26.1 10.7-39.5 Mission Regional Med Center 124 25.0 11.7-36.3 Placentia-Linda Community 47 23.4 7.0-40.1 Saddleback Hospital & Health Center 311 18.3 8.0-29.3 San Clemente General 79 13.9 1.9-27.1 Santa Ana Medical Center 29 27.6 2.1-44.9 South Coast Medical Center 96 20.8 9.7-35.5 St. Joseph 326 23.0 11.6-33.0 St. Jude 186 20.4 9.1-31.7 St. Jude Yorba Linda 13 30.8 0.0-100.0 UCI Medical Center 76 17.1 11.5-39.5 Western Medical Center Anaheim 9 44.4 0.0-100.0 Western Medical Center Santa Ana 117 22.2 13.6-38.7

1986 MORTALITY (%) Hospitals Cases Actual Predicted Anaheim General 27 25.9 0.0-45.9 Anaheim Memorial 109 33.0 16.7-42.4 Buena Park Community 8 0.0 0.0-100.0 Buena Park Doctors 4 25.0 0.0-100.0 Chapman General 29 37.9 5.0-52.4 Coastal Communities 29 20.7 0.0-40.3 Costa Mesa Medical Center 20 35.0 0.0-59.2 FHP--Fountain Valley 56 26.8 6.3-37.6 Fountain Valley Community 89 24.7 10.8-37.3 Hoag Hospital 318 19.5 12.0-32.8 Humana-Huntington Beach 58 25.9 7.3-38.3 Humana-West Anaheim 54 29.6 11.0-44.1 Humana-Westminster 56 25.0 11.4-44.0 Kaiser Foundation-Anaheim 123 24.4 10.5-34.4 La Palma Medical Center 19 31.6 5.1-68.1 Los Alamitos Medical Center 136 26.5 8.6-31.7 Martin Luther Med Center 82 41.5 15.7-43.7 Medical Center of Garden Grove 68 32.4 11.6-41.3 Mission Regional Med Center 102 24.5 6.0-30.4 Placentia-Linda Community 52 25.0 5.3-37.7 Saddleback Hospital & Health Center 297 30.0 12.1-33.0 San Clemente General 84 23.8 8.2-34.6 Santa Ana Medical Center 18 27.8 0.0-100.0 South Coast Medical Center 85 24.7 8.3-34.7 St. Joseph 270 28.9 13.6-34.9 St. Jude 216 22.2 10.4-31.9 St. Jude Yorba Linda 1 0.0 0.0-100.0 UCI Medical Center 91 23.1 11.1-37.4 Western Medical Center Anaheim 5 40.0 0.0-100.0 Western Medical Center Santa Ana 142 31.0 12.

The data for 1986 and 1987 were re-analyzed in 1988 using improved methodology and more current data to be consistent with the 1988 methods and to allow a three-year comparison of a hospital’s performance. The information provided here is not intended to be a direct measure of quality of care, the document states, but as a screening tool for hospital administrators and physicians to identify potential problems for further review and to evaluate a hospital’s strengths and weaknesses.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services