Where can I access reports of surgeon/hospital/surgery success rates?

June 24, 2013 11:23 PM

I have heard that hospitals and surgeons have to report success rates for specific surgeries. Do you know where these databases can be accessed? Thanks!
posted by bobbyno to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

This depends on the state. You usually can get these data from state departments of health, for example, New York's puts out reports on CABG and PCI: http://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/diseases/cardiovascular/

You might also want to take a look at Medicare's Hospital Compare. I don't think they publish "success rates" for specific surgeries (which is usually defined as 30-day mortality and/or serious complication rate) but you can get an idea of postop complication and error rates in general.
posted by un petit cadeau at 11:58 PM on June 24, 2013

I can't answer your question in general, but you can look up detailed statistics for transplant surgeries at the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. You won't get results by surgeon, but each center tends to have only one transplant team that's rated as a unit.
posted by WasabiFlux at 11:58 PM on June 24, 2013

Bobbyno, this both depends on the state and on the type of surgery. Can you come back and add which state you are interested in, or if you are just generally interested? In the meantime, here is a previous askme on this topic which might help explain what is available.
posted by kovacs at 3:50 AM on June 25, 2013