For the pneumonia 30-day mortality rate measurement, CMS tracks the percentage of Medicare patients who die of any cause while in the hospital or within 30 days of leaving the hospital.

To evaluate hospitals' performance, CMS gathers the mortality rates of all hospitals and uses them to calculate an average mortality rate. To allow for statistical variation, the range of mortality rates considered average includes rates that may be higher or lower than the exact average rate.

Finally, CMS compares individual hospitals' mortality rates against the average mortality rate. If a hospital falls into the average range, it is considered "no different than the U.S. national rate." If a hospital's mortality rate is higher than the average range, it is considered "worse than the U.S. national rate." If a hospital's mortality rate is lower than the average range, it is considered "better than the U.S. national rate."

What MU Health Care is doing to improve
We have a team of physicians and quality improvement experts who examine all cases of pneumonia mortality.

More pneumonia measurements

• Pneumococcal vaccination status
• Blood cultures performed in emergency room before initial antibiotic received in hospital
• Smoking-cessation advice or counseling
• Intial antibiotic timing
• Appropriate initial antibiotic selection
• Influenza vaccination status
• Pneumonia mortality rates
• Pneumonia re-admission rates

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