Most Baton Rouge hospital death rates are in accordance with the national average, but some are higher. Anyone with access to a computer is just one click away from finding a local hospital with the lowest or highest mortality rates.The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released U.S. hospital death rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia for the first time in July on its Hospital Compare Web site.Since 2005, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have released a comparison of heart attack and heart failure death rates to the national average but not to the percentages. Hospitals would be rated better, worse or no different than the national average. Detailed information and exact numbers aren’t available to the public.Eighty-six Louisiana hospitals submitted their records during the past three years, including four Baton Rouge hospitals: Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Earl K. Long Medical Center, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and Ochsner Medical Center Baton Rouge.Baton Rouge General Medical Center is listed in the top 100 “Worse than U.S. National Rate” for heart attack mortalities from 2006 to 2007 with an 18.4 percent heart attack death rate — the highest death rate in the state for that year.Earl K. Long Medical Center’s heart attack death rate dropped about one percent to 15.8 from 2006 to 2007.Ochsner Medical Center of Baton Rouge’s heart attack death rate decreased from 2006 to 2007 to 15.1 percent.Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center had the lowest heart attack death rate in Baton Rouge for 2006 to 2007. Its death rates dropped to 14.3 percent from 17.2 percent in 2005.In July, CMS presented a 30-day hospital mortality rate for pneumonia for the first time. Pneumonia is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to a CMS news release. Pneumonia and heart failure death rates in Baton Rouge are comparable to the national averages.But Ochsner Medical Center’s heart failure death rate was listed among the top 100 “Worse than U.S. National Rate” in 2005 to 2006 with a 14.2 percent death rate. Its death rate decreased to 12.5 percent the next year.The CMS partnered with the Hospital Quality Alliance to improve the quality of care by giving the public and health care professionals better access to important hospital data.”If you’re having a heart attack, you will go to the nearest hospital,” McLeod said. “But you might want to see how these hospitals do in terms of their care.”The government’s best estimates of heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia death rates are produced from Medicare claims and 30-day mortality rates — enrollment data that predicts patients’ deaths within 30 days of hospital admissions whether patients die while still in the hospital or after discharge. McLeod said the statistics are used as quality improvement tools and prompt hospitals to work toward becoming one of the top performing hospitals in the country.But the report card has caused  controversy among doctors about the data’s accuracy. The data takes into account medical care received during the year before each patient’s hospital admission and the number of patients at each hospital. The data is for differences in each hospital’s patient mix.Hospitals caring for older, sicker patients are on a “level playing field” with those whose patients would be expected to be at less risk of dying within 30 days of admission, McLeod said.
 
 
 
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