UCSF

Objective

To evaluate how the accuracy of present-on-admission (POA) reporting affects hospital 30-day acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mortality assessments.

Data sources

A total of 2005 California patient discharge data (PDD) and vital statistics death files.

Study design

We compared hospital performance rankings using an established model assessing hospital performance for AMI with (1) a model incorporating POA indicators of whether a secondary condition was a comorbidity or a complication of care, and (2) a simulation analysis that factored POA indicator accuracy into the hospital performance assessment. For each simulation, we changed POA indicators for six major acute risk factors of AMI mortality. The probability of POA being changed depended on patient and hospital characteristics.

Principal findings

Comparing the performance rankings of 268 hospitals using the established model with that using the POA indicator, 67 hospitals' (25 percent) rank differed by ≥10 percent. POA reporting inaccuracy due to overreporting and underreporting had little additional impact; POA overreporting contributed to 4 percent of hospitals' difference in rank compared to the POA model and POA underreporting contributed to <1 percent difference.

Conclusion

Incorporating POA indicators into risk-adjusted models of AMI care has a substantial impact on hospital rankings of performance that is not primarily attributable to inaccuracy in POA hospital reporting.