How are hospitals using HSMR data to help reduce mortality rates and make improvements?
• HSMR has been used by hospitals in several countries to assess in-hospital mortality rates and to help organizations identify areas for improvement. As a quality indicator and a measure to help hospitals and health professionals follow trends in their hospital mortality rate, HSMR can be used as yet another tool to help improve quality of care and patient safety over time. • Ontario hospitals are now using the HSMR for internal benchmarking purposes. Annually reported data helps to show hospitals how their HSMR has changed, where they have made progress, and where they can continue to improve. • This is similar to hospitals in other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden and Holland, where HSMR data have been used to monitor performance and reduce mortality rates. • Through HSMR, hospitals have been able to learn more about the tool, more effectively examine their results, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to lower mortality, and
