New statewide data finds deaths related to conditions like sepsis, heart attacks, and respiratory failure increased in Pennsylvania’s hospitals.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, an independent state agency, published its annual hospital performance report last month, which shows that in-hospital mortality rates rose during the last five years.
Researchers excluded COVID-19 related cases, but Barry Buckingham, council executive director, said the mortality increases could still be a result of the pandemic.
“Some of the possibilities are that maybe people waited longer to get care,” he said. “Maybe people were just sicker when they got there.”
The report examined outcomes for 13 medical conditions at all general acute care and some specialty general acute care hospitals in Pennsylvania for fiscal year 2021, and compared them to outcomes in fiscal year 2016.