The rate of patient deaths in hospitals from a number of conditions increased significantly in the past five years across Pennsylvania, according to the latest hospital watchdog group performance report.<\/p>\n
The annual Hospital Performance Report <\/a>released by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council on Thursday found a rise in the hospital mortality rate from sepsis, a medical emergency where the body\u2019s response to an infection causes damage to its own tissues and organs. <\/p>\n Analysis by the group of performance for 17 medical conditions across Pennsylvania hospitals found that the mortality rate for deaths associated with sepsis increased from 8.7% in 2019 to 9.6% in 2024. <\/p>\n The report also found that only one medical condition \u2014 acute kidney failure \u2014 saw a statistically significant decrease in the in-hospital mortality rate in that same period.<\/p>\n The rate of death decreased from 2.4% in 2019 to 2.2% in 2024 for that condition.<\/p>\n Statewide in-hospital mortality rates showed a statistically significant overall increase from 2019 to 2024 in six of the 16 conditions reported. <\/p>\n The report also shows that the statewide 30-day readmission rates showed a statistically significant increase across the five years measured in six of the 17 conditions reported. The largest increase was in lung blood clots.<\/p>\n The readmission rate increased from 11.8% in 2019 to 13.7% in 2024. <\/p>\n In addition to analyzing hospital performance for 17 medical conditions, the report also looked at average hospital charges and the total number of cases for hospitals. Statewide trends and statistics are also examined.<\/p>\n Barry D. Buckingham, the executive director of PHC4, noted that the Hospital Performance Report is considered a \u201ctrusted, consistent source of fact-based data,\u201d that ensures transparency and informed decision-making.<\/p>\n For the first time, the report includes an online, interactive geographic display, based on facility location.<\/p>\n \u201cThe value of the reporting is enhanced by these additional resources, and we aim to continue to develop new and different opportunities to support Pennsylvanians,\u201d Buckingham said.<\/p>\n PHC4 was created as an independent council under Pennsylvania law to address rapidly growing health care costs. <\/p>\n Across hospitals in central Pennsylvania:<\/p>\n UPMC Pinnacle reported 1,797 cases of sepsis and a significant increase in mortality rates <\/a>from the condition over the five years;UPMC Pinnacle also registered significantly higher rates of mortality due to infectious pneumonia and urinary tract infection;UPMC Memorial saw a significant increase in mortality rates related to sepsis and lung blood clots;WellSpan York posted mortality rates that were not significantly higher than previous rates or were even reduced;<\/a>Penn State Holy Spirit also did not report increased rates of mortality<\/a> across some of the conditions, but reduced rates in some;Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center saw no significant increase in mortality rates <\/a>across the measured conditions; and reported a significan decline in mortality rates due to strokeReading Hospital posted a significant increase in the rate of readmission<\/a> for heart failure and UTIs.<\/p>\n In a statement emailed to PennLive, UPMC noted that while the report\u2019s isolated data points were important, it does not include other important factors that would provide a more complete picture of quality assessment for outcomes. <\/p>\n UPMC noted that the UPMC Pinnacle Hospitals in the PHC4 report refers to three UPMC hospitals operating under one license\u2014 UPMC Harrisburg, UPMC West Shore, and UPMC Community Osteopathic \u2014 which means the numbers represent all three hospitals. <\/p>\n \u201cUPMC Harrisburg, UPMC West Shore, and UPMC Community Osteopathic earned the highest 5\u2011Star CMS Overall Hospital Quality Rating in 2024, reflecting excellence in outcomes, experience, and processes,” UPMC said in its statement. <\/p>\n UPMC further noted that its Harrisburg hospital has ranked #7 in Pennsylvania and #2 in the Harrisburg metro area in the U.S. News & World Report 2025\u20132026 \u2018Best Hospitals\u2019 rankings. <\/p>\n \u201cThese recognitions reinforce our commitment to providing exceptional, specialized care to our community and are a testament to the unwavering dedication, exceptional skill, and compassionate care that every UPMC team member brings to our hospitals every day. We remain steadfast in our commitment to always improve patient care outcomes across all conditions,\u201d UPMC said. \u201cWe continue to focus on evidence\u2011based practices and quality improvement strategies to ensure even better patient outcomes in future years.”<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: This story was updated to include the statement from UPMC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rate of patient deaths in hospitals from a number of conditions increased significantly in the past five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-169549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}