What you'll learn about heart care

For the five heart procedures, the most important information the Checkup provides is mortality. This tells you how the number of patients who died at the hospital compares to the number of people who were expected to die. Because heart procedures are complicated and patients are often very sick, it's normal that a certain number of patients will die.

The Checkup tells you whether a hospital had:

	Fewer deaths than expected given how sick patients were
	Expected number of deaths given how sick patients were
	More deaths than expected given how sick patients

The Checkup also tells you:

	How many of the procedures each hospital did. (Remember that practice makes perfect. Usually, a hospital that does more of a type of care does a better job.)
	Whether the hospital staffs its intensive care unit with specially trained intensive care doctors
	Whether the hospital has a computerized prescription order entry system for doctors to reduce medication errors

The Checkup also tells you:

	How long the average patient stayed in the hospital
	Average total charges for the procedure
	Average charge per day for the procedure

What you'll learn about childbirth

For childbirth, the Checkup tells you several important things about hospital performance.

	The number of total deliveries
	The cesarean section (C-section) rate

The average cesarean section rate across the country was 23 percent in 2000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended lowering the overall C-section rate to 15 percent. The average C-section rate in Texas is 28.4 percent. Although many women choose to have their babies by C-section instead of vaginal delivery, many doctors and hospitals believe the C-section rate should be at or below 25 percent of all births.

The Checkup also tells you:

	How many babies the hospital takes care of each day in its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). (The Leapfrog Group says that quality is better when the number is 15 or higher on average.)
	How long the average mother stayed in the hospital for vaginal birth and C-section
	Average total charges for vaginal birth and C-section
	Average charge per day for vaginal birth and C-section