Analyzing 17 procedures undergone at 5,000 US hospitals from 2005 to 2007, HealthGrades, a leader in the field of health care quality measurement, reached to the conclusion that overall death rates declined by 14.7 percent.

More exactly, the 11th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study concluded that the death rate at top-ranked US hospitals is 70 percent lower than at lowest-ranked hospitals. If all US hospitals performed at the level of top-rated five-star hospitals, 237,420 Medicare patient deaths could potentially have been prevented from 2005 to 2007. About 54 percent of those deaths were linked to four conditions: sepsis, pneumonia, heart and respiratory failure.

The procedures and conditions analyzed in the study included: bowel obstruction; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; coronary bypass surgery; coronary interventional procedures (angioplasty/stent); diabetic acidosis and coma; gastrointestinal bleed; gastrointestinal surgeries and procedures; heart attack; heart failure; pancreatitis; pneumonia; pulmonary embolism; resection/replacement of the abdominal aorta; respiratory failure; sepsis; stroke; and valve replacement surgery.

Hospitals located in the East North Central region appeared to have to lowest overall risk-adjusted mortality rates: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. At the opposite side were hospitals in the East South Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee), which had the highest mortality rates. However, “geography should not be a major factor in patients’ outcomes,” said Samantha Collier, MD, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and a study author. “If our nation's hospitals are to close the quality gap and guarantee an equally high level of medical care for every patient, no matter where he or she lives, it will require a commitment by our nation and its communities to demand more from quality improvement,” she added.

The full study is available here.