PORT ANGELES – More than half of the 25 patients at Olympic Medical Center who died within 30 days of being hospitalized for cardiac failure were receiving end-of-life care.
An OMC committee of medical, clinical, quality and administrative staff Friday released its review of a report by the Hospital Compare program of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The report, released June 21, said OMC was among 35 hospitals surveyed nationwide with higher-than-average morbidity among Medicare patients who had suffered heart failure in the preceding month.
The report also said that OMC’s death rate for Medicare heart attack patients was comparable to the national rate among those hospitals surveyed.
It found Jefferson Healthcare hospital, which is listed in the report as Jefferson General Hospital, had mortality rates comparable to the national rate for both heart attack and heart failure patients on Medicare.
The report did not provide specific rates for hospitals.
The report surveyed deaths of Medicare patients between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006 in 4,807 hospitals across the country.
OMC said 15 of the Medicare heart failure patients had come to the hospital for end-of-life care.
It initially said eight of those patients had come there to die.
The medical center said its committee would meet with Qualis Health – the quality-assurance arm of Medicare – in mid-July.
“We are very confident with our care of congestive heart failure and heart attack patients, and are always working to improve our level of care,” said Dr. Scott Kennedy, chief medical officer at OMC.
