Blood Clots after Surgery

Developing a blood clot after surgery is a common but serious complication. Hospitals report the number of these clots along with other performance measures on public websites. A new study examined why certain hospitals providing some of the highest quality care had some of the worst rankings when it came to reporting the number of blood clots after surgery. “Some hospitals tend to look more for these blood clots than others and when they look more they find more and paradoxically they look worse on the performance rankings.” Dr. Karl Bilimoria and co-authors examined national and Medicare claims data from more than 2,000 hospitals. Researchers compiled information on how often hospitals looked for blood clots after surgery and how many blood clots they found.  “A hospital that actually has a poor rating on publicly reported outcomes for blood clots after surgery may actually be providing higher quality care by being vigilant looking for blood clots and finding them.” The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.