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Fall 2007 (return to main News page)
Outcome Measurements Are Positive News for Our Patients
Measurement of neurosurgical results for neck and back surgeries at one of our regional medical centers show that our patients fare very well compared to patients from 400 hospitals included in a nationwide study.
Hospitals and medical centers contract with quality management firms to measure the level of complications and morbidity that their patients experience, as well as length of stay in the hospital and costs for procedures.
Complications
In terms of complications (typical events such as urinary infection, anemia, or insomnia that patients may experience during a surgical stay), the rate of complication was 5.8% less than statistically expected.
 Morbidity
Another quality measurement is morbidity outcomes (these are more major complications such as heart attack, stroke, or blood clots that sometimes happen to surgical patients). Patients at the 400 hospitals measured had a morbidity rate of 1.8%. Patients treated by our neurosurgeons experienced morbidity at a 0.9% rate—one-half of the expected rate.
Length of Stay
Patients of our neurosurgeons spent an average of three-quarters of a day less in the hospital than the patients in the wider study.
Cost
Lower complication and morbidity rates, as well as a shorter average length of stay translate not only into a more positive surgical experience for patients, but also into lower costs. On average, costs for our patients were about 33% less than they were for other patients in the study.
The Outcomes Study
The data represented in this study is from May 2005 to April 2007. The information and data contained in this study are based on outcomes from patients treated at North Colorado Medical Center (NCMC) and was obtained from Care Science, a national, independent quality management firm. All neurosurgical neck and back procedures from NCMC included in this study were performed by physicians from our practice.
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