Preventing Complications from Surgery

Blood clots in the veins and infections are two potential complications from surgery.  Hospitals can reduce the risk of wound infection after surgery by making sure patients get the right medicines at the right time on the day of surgery.  Hospitals can reduce the risk of blood clots by making sure that patients get preventive treatments.

• Rates of Patients Receiving Recommended Care to Prevent Complications from Surgery

Note: For all of these rates, be careful when drawing conclusions; small numbers of patients may reduce the reliability of the results. 

 Understanding Recommended Care Rates

• The Recommended Care Rates show how often hospitals provided the recommended care for heart attack patients, heart failure patients, patients with pneumonia and to prevent complications from surgery.
• What do the fractions mean?  The denominator (the bottom number) represents all those patients who were medically eligible to receive the recommended care.  The numerator (the top number) represents those patients who actually received the care.
• For Example: Aspirin at Arrival: 80%; 8/10 means that 10 heart attack patients were medically eligible to receive an aspirin on arrival at the hospital, and 8 of those patients *80%) actually received it.  “0/0” means that no patients were medically eligible to receive the treatment. 

Acknowledgement:  The table format, measure descriptions and definition of “Achievable Benchmark” for the Recommended Care Rates were developed by the New Hampshire-based Foundation for Healthy Communities.  The Northeast Healthcare Quality Foundation Provided the data analysis.  The Department of Financial Regulation expresses its gratitude to both organizations. 

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