Thomas A. Marciniak

CONTEXT: Medicare has a legislative mandate for quality assurance, but the effectiveness of its population-based quality improvement programs has been difficult to establish. OBJECTIVE: To improve the quality of care for Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN: Quality improvement project with baseline measurement, feedback, remeasurement, and comparison samples. SETTING: All acute care hospitals in the United States. PATIENTS: Preintervention and postintervention samples included all Medicare patients in Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, and Wisconsin discharged with principal diagnoses of acute myocardial infarctions during 2 periods, June 1992 through December 1992 and August 1995 through November 1995. Indicator comparisons were made with a random sample of Medicare patients in the rest of the nation discharged with acute myocardial infarctions from August 1995 through November 1995. Mortality comparisons involved all Medicare patients nationwide with inpatient claims for acute myocardial infarctions during 2 periods, June 1992 through May 1993 and August 1995 through July 1996. INTERVENTION: Data feedback by peer review organizations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Quality indicators derived from clinical practice guidelines, length of stay, and mortality. RESULTS: Performance on all quality indicators improved significantly in the 4 pilot states. Administration of aspirin during hospitalization in patients without contraindications improved from 84% to 90% (P< .001), and prescription of beta-blockers at discharge improved from 47% to 68% (P < .001). Mortality at 30 days decreased from 18.9% to 17.1% (P = .005) and at 1 year from 32.3% to 29.6% (P < .001). These improvements in quality occurred during a period when median length of stay decreased from 8 days to 6 days. Performance on all quality indicators except reperfusion was better in the pilot states than in the rest of the nation in 1995, and the differences were statistically significant for aspirin use at discharge (P < .001), beta-blocker use (P < .001), and smoking cessation counseling (P = .02). Postinfarction mortality was not significantly different between the pilot states and the rest of the nation during the baseline period, although it was slightly but significantly better in the pilot states during the follow-up period (absolute mortality difference at 1 year, 0.9%; P = .004). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of care for Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction has improved in the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project pilot states. Performance on the defined quality indicators appeared to be better in the pilot states than in the rest of the nation in 1995 and was associated with reduced mortality.

CONTEXT: Despite the importance of beta-blockers for secondary prevention after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), several studies have suggested that they are substantially underutilized, particularly in older patients. OBJECTIVES: To describe the contemporary national pattern of beta-blocker prescription at hospital discharge among patients aged 65 years or older with an AMI, to identify the most important predictors of the prescribed use of beta-blockers at discharge, and to determine the independent association between beta-blockers at discharge and mortality in clinical practice. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using data created from medical charts and administrative files. SETTING: Acute care nongovernmental hospitals in the United States. PATIENTS: National cohort of 115015 eligible patients aged 65 years or older who survived hospitalization with a confirmed AMI in 1994 or 1995. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Blocker as a discharge medication and mortality in the year after discharge. RESULTS: Among the 45308 patients without contraindications to beta-blockers, 22665 (50.0%) had a beta-blocker as a discharge medication. There was significant variation by state, ranging from 30.3% to 77.1 %. Of the 36795 patients who were not receiving beta-blocker therapy on admission, 16006 (43.5%) had therapy initiated on or before discharge. Demographic and clinical variables explained relatively little of the variation in the initiation of beta-blocker therapy. The prescribed use of calcium channel blockers at discharge had a strong negative association with the use of beta-blockers (odds ratio [OR] of beta-blocker use, 0.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.24-0.26). The New England region had significantly higher use of beta-blocker therapy than the rest of the country. Compared with cardiologists, internists had similar rates (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.90-1.00) and general and family practice physicians had lower rates (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.73-0.83). After adjusting for potential confounders, beta-blockers were associated with a 14% lower risk of mortality at 1 year after discharge. The association with lower mortality was present in subgroups stratified by age, sex, and left ventricular ejection fraction. CONCLUSIONS: Many ideal patients for beta-blocker therapy are not prescribed these drugs at discharge following AMI. The clinical and demographic characteristics of the patients do not explain much of the variation in the treatment pattern. Geographic factors and physician specialty are independently associated with the decision to use beta-blockers. Elderly patients who are prescribed beta-blockers at discharge have a better survival rate, consistent with the findings of randomized controlled trials of younger and lower-risk populations.

CONTEXT: Quality indicators for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction include pharmacologic therapy, reperfusion, and smoking cessation advice, but these therapies may not be administered to all patients who could benefit from them. OBJECTIVE: To assess geographic variation in adherence to quality indicators for treatment of acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN: Inception cohort using data from the Health Care Financing Administration Cooperative Cardiovascular Project. SETTING: Acute care hospitals in the United States. PATIENTS: A total of 186800 Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for treatment of confirmed acute myocardial infarction from February 1994 through July 1995. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adherence to quality indicators for pharmacologic therapy, reperfusion, and smoking cessation advice for patients judged to be ideal candidates for these therapies. The mean rates of adherence to these quality indicators for the entire United States were determined, and the 20th and 80th percentiles of the age- and sex-adjusted rates for each of 306 hospital referral regions were contrasted (mean rate [20th-80th percentiles]). RESULTS: Aspirin was used frequently both during hospitalization (86.2% [82.6%-90.1%]) and at discharge (77.8% [72.5% -83.9%]). Calcium channel blockers were withheld from most patients with impaired left ventricular function (81.9% [73.6%-90.8%]). Lower rates were seen in the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors at discharge (59.3% [49.2%-69.2%]); reperfusion, using thrombolytic therapy or coronary angioplasty (67.2% [59.8%-75.1%]); prescription of beta-blockers at discharge (49.5% [35.8%-61.5%]); and for smoking cessation advice (41.9% [32.8%-51.3%]). CONCLUSIONS: Substantial geographic variation exists in the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction, and these gaps between knowledge and practice have important consequences. Therapies with proven benefit for AMI are underused despite strong evidence that their use will result in better patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND: "America's Best Hospitals," an influential list published annually by U.S. News and World Report, assesses the quality of hospitals. It is not known whether patients admitted to hospitals ranked at the top in cardiology have lower short-term mortality from acute myocardial infarction than those admitted to other hospitals or whether differences in mortality are explained by differential use of recommended therapies. METHODS: Using data from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project on 149,177 elderly Medicare beneficiaries with acute myocardial infarction in 1994 or 1995, we examined the care and outcomes of patients admitted to three types of hospitals: those ranked high in cardiology (top-ranked hospitals); hospitals not in the top rank that had on-site facilities for cardiac catheterization, coronary angioplasty, and bypass surgery (similarly equipped hospitals); and the remaining hospitals (non-similarly equipped hospitals). We compared 30-day mortality; the rates of use of aspirin, beta-blockers, and reperfusion; and the relation of differences in rates of therapy to short-term mortality. RESULTS: Admission to a top-ranked hospital was associated with lower adjusted 30-day mortality (odds ratio, 0.87; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.76 to 1.00; P=0.05 for top-ranked hospitals vs. the others). Among patients without contraindications to therapy, top-ranked hospitals had significantly higher rates of use of aspirin (96.2 percent, as compared with 88.6 percent for similarly equipped hospitals and 83.4 percent for non-similarly equipped hospitals; P<0.01) and beta-blockers (75.0 percent vs. 61.8 percent and 58.7 percent, P<0.01), but lower rates of reperfusion therapy (61.0 percent vs. 70.7 percent and 65.6 percent, P=0.03). The survival advantage associated with admission to top-ranked hospitals was less strong after we adjusted for factors including the use of aspirin and beta-blockers (odds ratio, 0.94; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.82 to 1.08; P=0.38). CONCLUSIONS: Admission to a hospital ranked high on the list of "America's Best Hospitals" was associated with lower 30-day mortality among elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction. A substantial portion of the survival advantage may be associated with these hospitals' higher rates of use of aspirin and beta-blocker therapy.