Measures

Center investigators periodically develop new process and outcome measures of quality of care. Listed below are measures which have been published in the peer-reviewed literature. Several have been endorsed by reputable agencies for use in public reporting and/or quality improvement activities.

National Quality Forum Endorsed Measures

Failure-to-Rescue – In-hospital mortality

This is defined as the probability of death following a complication during hospitalization. It was initially endorsed by the National Quality Forum in 2008 and renewed in 2012. Click here for measure specifications. A crosswalk for DRG codes from 2004 to 2009 is available by clicking here.

Failure-to-Rescue – 30-day mortality

This is defined as the probability of death following a complication within the first 30 days from hospital admission. It was originally endorsed by the National Quality Forum in 2008 and renewed in 2012. Click here for measure specifications. A crosswalk for DRG codes from 2004 to 2009 is available by clicking here.

Other Published Measures

Conditional Length of Stay

Conditional length of stay is defined as the length of a hospital stay after a stay is prolonged. The measure describes a provider's ability to treat a complicated patient whose stay has become prolonged because of the complication. It was originally published in the April 1999 issue of Health Services Research and described further in the June 2003 issue of Health Services Research.

Prolonged Stay

Prolonged stay is defined as the probability that a stay will exceed a specified point in time and describes a provider's abiltiy to efficiently treat and discharge a less complicated patient. This was published in the June 2003 issue of Health Services Research.