Author Topic: Scorecard for surgeons available for some types of surgery  (Read 76 times)

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Offline agate

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Scorecard for surgeons available for some types of surgery
« on: August 09, 2015, 03:52:33 pm »
If you're facing surgery and you have MS, you're probably particularly concerned about insuring the best possible care. ProPublica has published a scorecard based on an assessment of the complication rates after surgery. The scorecard is available for 8 common elective surgeries.

From NEJM Journal Watch, July 17, 2015:

Quote
ProPublica's Scorecard Details Complication Rates of Surgeons

By Kelly Young

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM

The investigative journalism group ProPublica has published a searchable scorecard to help patients choose a surgeon. It includes the complication rates of roughly 17,000 surgeons at 3600 hospitals across the country.

Using Medicare data for inpatient stays from 2009 to 2013, they focused on eight common elective surgeries (e.g., knee or hip replacement, prostate removal). They calculated the 30-day readmission rate for surgery-related complications, such as infections, blood clots, uncontrolled bleeding, and misaligned orthopedic devices and adjusted for factors including patient health and age.

Overall complication rates were 2% to 4%. Roughly 11% of surgeons were responsible for about a quarter of the complications.

The scorecard is searchable by surgeon, hospital, city, and state.


The ProPublica article:

https://www.propublica.org/article/surgery-risks-patient-safety-surgeon-matters

The scorecard:
https://projects.propublica.org/surgeons/
MS Speaks--online for 17 years

SPMS, diagnosed 1980. Avonex 2001-2004. Copaxone 2007-2010. Glatopa (glatiramer acetate 40mg 3 times/week) since 12/16/20.