U.S. News and World Report's rankings of the best hospitals for cardiology and other care are among the most influential. Considering this influence, researchers undertook a study to determine whether top-ranked hospitals have better outcomes in terms of mortality rates, readmission rates, and patient satisfaction for three cardiovascular conditions compared with nonranked hospitals.

The researchers obtained hospital-level standardized 30-day mortality and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as a composite measure of patient satisfaction for each hospital. Hospitals were categorized as top ranked (in the top 50 of U.S. News and World Report's 2018-2019 best hospitals for cardiology and heart surgery) or nonranked (not in the top 50).

The top-ranked hospitals had significantly lower 30-day mortality rates for AMI, heart failure, and CABG compared with nonranked hospitals. Readmission rates at top-ranked compared with nonranked hospitals were similar for AMI and CABG but higher for heart failure. Patient satisfaction ratings were higher at top-ranked hospitals. When the hospitals were divided into quintiles based on rank, mortality rates for the top-ranked versus the lowest-ranked quintiles were lower for AMI and heart failure but similar for CABG; readmission rates didn't differ significantly for any of the conditions.

The discrepancy between readmission rates and other measures suggests that the former may not be an adequate metric of the quality of hospital care, the authors write. They also note that the U.S. News and World Report's rankings used in this study are based on CMS data and may differ from rankings based on all-payer data.

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