Correlation between compensated patient claims and 30-day mortality

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Assessment
• Patient Safety Research
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Patient compensation claims, reported to the Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation, may serve as an indicator of healthcare quality.
• 30-day mortality is an established quality indicator derived from the Norwegian Patient Registry.
• The correlation between patient claims and 30-day mortality has not been previously evaluated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between patient compensation claims and 30-day mortality rates at the hospital trust level in Norway.
• To determine if patient claims can serve as a complementary quality indicator alongside 30-day mortality.

Main Methods:

• The study analyzed data from all 19 Norwegian hospital trusts.
• The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the association between patient claims rates and 30-day mortality.
• Data on patient claims and 30-day mortality were collected from relevant Norwegian registries.

Main Results:

• A high positive correlation (r=0.77, P<0.001) was observed between 30-day mortality and the total number of patient claims.
• An even stronger correlation (r=0.83, P<0.001) was found between 30-day mortality and approved patient claims.
• Adjusted 30-day mortality showed significant correlation with patient-claim rates when using bed-days as the denominator.

Conclusions:

• Patient compensation claims and 30-day mortality are significantly associated at the hospital trust level.
• Both patient claims and 30-day mortality appear to reflect the latent quality of care.
• These metrics may capture distinct, yet related, aspects of healthcare quality in hospital trusts.