By Josh Gray: Vice President, Analytic Services at Health Data Analytics Institute
Written with Diana Homsy: Senior Manager, Analytic Services at Health Data Analytics Institute
Your odds of surviving a hospitalization at an academic medical center are better – but you’ll stay longer.
Our team at Health Data Analytics Institute (HDAI) recently compared performance at US Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) with those of acute care hospitals as a whole. We focused on mortality, readmissions, and LOS. We based our analysis on all Medicare fee-for-service claims associated with ~ 2.4 million acute care inpatient admissions between 2022 and August 2024.
Our key takeaways:
AMCs reduce risk of death
As shown in the table below, AMCs have 13% lower 30-day post-admission morality on an actual to expected basis compared with US hospitals nationally. Mortality at AMCs was 7.8% compared to an expected level of 8.9%.
Actual to Expected Mortality, Readmissions, LOS, and Hospice Utilization
Academic Medical Centers, 2022 – August 2024
Readmissions & mortality are similar between AMCs and other hospitals
Readmissions are 1% lower than expected, and inpatient mortality is 1% higher than expected.
LOS reduction is an enormous opportunity
A 2024 report from Ed Levine, Rupal B. Malani, and John Schulz, MD of McKinsey & Company showed that AMC leaders most frequently cite LOS as the single most promising area for operational performance improvement. This is consistent with our review of the data showing that LOS at AMCs was 14% higher than expected: 6.6 days vs. 5.8. If AMCs as a group could close even half the LOS gap relative to non-AMCs (i.e., reducing actual to expected LOS from 1.14 to 1.07), over 400,000 days would be saved annually, for Medicare fee-for-service patients alone. This would go a long way to improving AMCs’ financial performance. If Medicare Advantage and Commercial insured patients are included, that level might more than double).
These figures represent AMCs’ combined performance. Individual program outcomes vary widely. Let’s chat if you’d like deeper insight into your hospital’s performance relative to the peer cohort you’re most interested in.
We would also be happy to review with you how your program ranks relative to other AMCs.
Josh Gray, VP of Analytic Services, HDAI ([email protected])
Diana Homsey, Senior Manager, HDAI ([email protected])
