A hospital performance report found deaths related to sepsis, heart attacks and respiratory failure rose in Pennsylvania hospitals, PBS affiliate WHYY reported Jan. 14.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, an independent state agency, recently published its annual hospital performance report. It examined outcomes for 13 medical conditions at all general acute care and some specialty general acute care hospitals in Pennsylvania during fiscal 2021, and those outcomes were compared with fiscal 2016.
While in-hospital death rates for certain conditions increased, overall hospital readmission rates for the same conditions declined.
Researchers excluded COVID-19-related cases, but the mortality increase could be a result of the pandemic, council Executive Director Barry Buckingham told WHYY.