Health Grades Hospital Report Cards Bariatric Surgery 20072008 Page 1
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May not be reprinted or reproduced without permission from Health Grades, Inc.
Hospital Report Card
TM
Bariatric Surgery 2007-2008
Methodology White Paper
(2003 2005 Data)
Introduction
Morbid obesity is recognized as a major public health problem in America that contributes to serious health risks.
Bariatric surgery has been demonstrated to be a highly effective therapy to reduce the consequences of the serious
health risks from morbid obesity, such as severe sleep apnea, heart disease and diabetes.
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As a result, bariatric
surgery has proliferated across the United States in recent years.
To help consumers evaluate and compare hospital performance in bariatric surgery, HealthGrades analyzed patient
outcome data for all patients (all-payer data) provided by 19 individual states for years 2003 through 2005. Ratings
were based on HealthGrades' risk-adjusted methodology and the HealthGrades ratings are available on the Internet
at
www.healthgrades.com
.
The purpose of risk adjustment is to obtain fair statistical comparisons between disparate populations or groups.
Significant differences in demographic and clinical risk factors are found among patients treated in different hospitals.
Risk adjustment of the data is needed to make accurate and valid comparisons of clinical outcomes at different
hospitals.
Data Acquisition
For the bariatric surgery hospital ratings, all-payer state data were used in those states where state data are
available. The data represent three years of discharges. These data were chosen because they represent all
discharges for the associated states. The 19 states evaluated were as follows:
·
Arizona
·
North Carolina
·
California
·
Pennsylvania
·
Florida
·
Oregon
·
Iowa
·
Rhode Island
·
Maine
·
Texas
·
Maryland
·
Utah
·
Massachusetts
·
Virginia
·
Nevada
·
Washington
·
New Jersey
·
Wisconsin
·
New York
