AHRQ Stats: Hospital Mortality Rates

Hospital mortality rates among adults declined from 2002 to 2012 for four common health conditions, decreasing by 45 percent for pneumonia, 41 percent for heart attack, 29 percent for congestive heart failure and 27 percent for stroke. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #194: Trends in Observed Adult Inpatient Mortality for High-Volume Conditions, 2002-2012.)

Trends in Observed Adult Inpatient Mortality for High-Volume Conditions, 2002-2012

Anika L. Hines, Ph.D., M.P.H., Kevin C. Heslin, Ph.D., H. Joanna Jiang, Ph.D., and Rosanna Coffey, Ph.D.

Highlights

Observed inpatient mortality rates among adults declined between 2002 and 2012 for four high-volume conditions: 45 percent decrease for pneumonia, 41 percent decrease for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 29 percent decrease for congestive heart failure (CHF), and 27 percent decrease for stroke.

Inpatient mortality for pneumonia demonstrated the largest decrease of the four conditions across subgroups.
- Decreases in the inpatient mortality rate for pneumonia were largest for Medicaid and uninsured patients (56 and 55 percent, respectively).
- Pneumonia mortality decreased by nearly half for patients in all community income groups.

Decreases in mortality for CHF and stroke were largest among patients from the poorest communities (34 percent decrease for CHF and 30 percent decrease for stroke).

Uninsured patients had the largest decrease in inpatient mortality for stroke (42 percent) compared with Medicare, Medicaid, and privately insured patients.

Inpatient mortality for AMI decreased by approximately 40 percent in rural (42 percent), metropolitan (41 percent), and micropolitan (40 percent) areas.