Indicators of Inpatient Care in Colorado Hospitals, 2001

Interpreting graphs used on this site.

1. Interpreting the Volume Indicators Graphs
2. Interpreting the Mortality Indicators Graphs
3. Interpreting the Utilization Indicators Graphs

Interpreting the graph - Volume Indicators

Medical articles and journals have offered suggestions that, for some complex medical and surgical procedures, outcomes for patients may be better in hospitals where doctors perform such procedures regularly, rather than occasionally. This indicator has substantial published evidence suggesting that providers that perform more than a certain number of procedures (i.e., minimum threshold) have better patient outcomes. These thresholds are listed within the graph of each volume indicator. Threshold 1 is the lowest reported threshold in the literature, while threshold 2 is the highest. Providers exceeding these thresholds are considered high volume providers.

Interpreting the graph - Mortality Indicators

"Floating Bars" / "Confidence Intervals" - The blue floating bars represent the low end and the high end of a hospital's risk-adjusted mortality rate using a 95% confidence interval.

• The number if cases is displayed in blue lettering next to the hospital name.
• The actual number if cases is not displayed if it is below 5.
• A Yellow dot () next to the hospital's name indicates that the sample size was too small (less than 30 cases) to report data.
• The green percentages indicate confidence intervals, followed by the black percentage which indicates risk-adjusted mortality rate.

  "Hospital State Average" - The red state average line describes the risk-adjusted average mortality rate for the State of New York.

Interpreting the graph - Utilization Indicators

Most of the utilization indicators are potentially overused procedures. The exceptions are VBAC and laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which are potentially underused. The rates of procedure use are intended to reflect inappropriate use of the procedure. However, it has been noted in the literature that areas with higher rates of procedures do not necessarily have higher rates of inappropriate procedures. Nevertheless, since these areas have higher rates of procedures they may have a higher number of inappropriate procedures. Other factors, including patient preference, influence indicator performance. For most of these procedures there are no “right rates,” meaning there are no gold standards by which to measure performance. Very low rates could signal inappropriate underutilization of procedures. Thus peer group averages may be the best comparison available. Notable exceptions are Bi-lateral cardiac catheterization and incidental appendectomy where the appropriate rate is likely to be very small, and Csection and VBAC rate, which have established Healthy People 2010 goals (15 c-sections per 100 births for first-time cesareans, and 37 VBACs per 100 births in women with previous cesarean section).

• The number of cases is displayed in blue lettering next to the bar graph.
  • The actual number of cases is not displayed if it is below 5.
• A Yellow dot () next to the hospital's name indicates that the sample size was too small (less than 5 cases) to report data.
• The green percentages indicate confidence intervals, followed by the black percentage which indicates risk-adjusted utilization rate.

  "Hospital State Average" - The red state average line describes the risk-adjusted average utilization rate for the State of New York.