Commentary on “the association of hospital Medicare beneficiary payer-mix, national quality rankings and outcomes following hepatopancreatic surgery” – The need for better data to identify quality

Paredes et al. report on the impact of hospital payer-mix on outcomes amongst Medicare beneficiaries-specifically on the association of high hospital level Medicare patient-mix on short-term postoperative outcomes undergoing hepatopancreatic (HP) surgery.1 The intent of this study was to determine if the current measured outcomes will be helpful in identifying centers for excellence for geriatric patients undergoing high risk operations in high and low payer mix hospitals. The authors used the Medicare Standard Analytic Files, a database often used to identify this patient population, and includes the following variables: Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPC) and International Classification of Disease (ICD 10) codes.

Source: American Journal of Surgery - January 10, 2021 Category: Surgery Authors: Samir Gupta, Camaleigh Jaber Tags: Invited Commentary Source Type: research