Fourteen hospitals that completed a voluntary, checklist-based surgical quality improvement program saw a dip in postoperative mortality rates, according to a study published in the Annals of Surgery.
The hospitals completed the Safe Surgery 2015 South Carolina program. Researchers examined postoperative mortality rates after inpatient surgery in the state using all-payer discharge claims from 2008 to 2013. They identified the hospitals that completed the program and compared 30-day postoperative mortality rates.
Prior to the launch of the program, there was no difference in mortality trends between the hospitals that eventually completed the program and hospitals that did not.
The 30-day mortality rate among program completers dropped from 3.38 percent in 2010 to 2.84 percent in 2013. The mortality rate among hospitals that did not complete the program rose from 3.5 percent in 2010 to 3.71 percent in 2013.