Using mortality data for profiling hospital quality of care and targeting substandard care

This paper reviews the utilization of hospital mortality data to (1) provide information for review agents to use in reviewing medical records for quality of care problems and (2) provide information to consumers on the relative quality of care provided by hospitals. First, the Health Care Financing Administration's 1987 mortality study is reviewed by discussing some of its methodological strengths and limitations and by conducting a validation of its results. Next, a recent study by the New York State Department of Health aimed at targeting specific cases for medical record review is discussed. A final section provides recommendations for alterations and extensions of previous research.