Hospital Volume and Quality of Care for Congestive Heart Failure

For some surgical procedures, hospitals with higher surgical volumes have better outcomes and lower costs. Does this association also apply to the volume of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF)? Researchers used Medicare and other administrative data on more than 1 million discharges (from 2006 to 2007) to assess the relation between hospital volume of CHF patients and quality of care (e.g., treatment with angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitors [ACE-Is] or angiotensin-receptor blockers [ARBs]; assessment of left ventricular [LV] function), 30-day mortality, 30-day readmission rates, and cost. Analysis of care quality was adjusted for hospital characteristics (e.g., urban status, teaching affiliation), whereas mortality, readmissio…