Your chance of dying from a heart attack, pneumonia or heart failure can be significantly different at hospitals just miles from each other.

That’s the findings of the latest report from a federal agency that tracks what happens to the nation’s 44 million Medicare patients. The HospitalCompare.hhs.gov website allows consumers to compare hospitals for a variety of treatments and outcomes.

Lori Wightman, president of the Allina-affiliated New Ulm Medical Center, said the growing number of government and nonprofit websites tracking clinics, hospitals and doctors is adding transparency and accountability.

“Measuring what you do and what you get done is important. It’s moving in the right direction,” Wightman said.

Still, she suspects most consumers still aren’t heading to websites to compare hospitals or doctors.

“They’re probably asking coworkers and neighbors about their experiences,” she said. “What it usually gets down to is your relationship with your provider and the hospital or clinic.”

Dr. Brian Whited, medical director of Immanuel St. Joseph’s — Mayo Health System in Mankato, said they haven’t seen many consumers turning to websites to find comparisons but thinks it will become common as sites become more user-friendly.

“I’m a firm believer in transparency and having the data out there. We do foresee people more and more going to the web for medical decisions, just like they do for other decisions they make in their lives.”

He said the ISJ Mayo System is “very data driven” and uses all available information to improve.

“We certainly watch our mortality rates closely for all causes and strive to do better,” Whited said. “For us, average is not good enough. We think we have the pieces in place to be better.” 

The hospital comparisons are made by the federal agency that runs Medicare, using data to track patients with three common conditions: heart attacks, congestive heart failure and pneumonia.

The information is adjusted to account for the fact that some hospitals get many more severe cases than others.

Most Minnesota hospitals fall within the national average for death rates and the chance of being rehospitalized within 30 days. All area hospitals were ranked as the “same” as the national average in all categories.

Still, there are variations among hospitals.  

The 30-day death rate for people hospitalized with pneumonia, for example, varies from 9.8 percent at ISJ Mankato to 10.2 percent at Madelia, 11.7 percent at St. Peter and 12.1 percent at New Ulm.

ISJ’s 30-day death rate of 15.7 percent for patients coming in with a heart attack is toward the lower end of all hospitals in the state. St. Cloud had the lowest heart attack death rate at 12.5 percent while Hennepin County Medical Center had the highest at 19.6.

New Ulm’s heart attack death rate was among the state’s highest at 19.3 percent, but still within the national average.

Wightman said the death rates fluctuate from year to year and can be a natural statistical variation, especially when a smaller hospital has relatively few heart attack patients it treats and keeps in the hospital. Most heart attack victims coming to New Ulm’s emergency room are airlifted to Abbott Northwestern for treatment. Those patients’ outcomes are tied to Abbott.

And she said the hospital’s more current data show improvement in the mortality rate this year. (The website’s data is from the second quarter of 2009.)

“We keep track of all kinds of data on a monthly basis. Following best practices and focusing on patient satisfaction is our big priority, and we pay attention to that every month.”

Whited said the data used on the federal website can be tricky to read because it is based on how bills are coded at hospitals. A patient, for example, may be admitted with end-stage cancer and die from heart failure. “So there can be swings in data based on that coding. The primary condition they’re hospitalized for might not be what shows up (in the federal data),” he said.  

Whited said one thing the information points out is the need for quick and attentive follow-up care when someone leaves the hospital.

“We want to make sure people leave the hospital with good information and that they hook up with their primary care physician right away. That avoids those readmissions and things getting worse.” 

Wightman said that while the comparisons may not be widely used by consumers, they have an effect on hospitals.

“I’m guessing most of the people looking at the site are hospitals to see how they compare with the competitors. I don’t want ISJ to look better then New Ulm Medical Center, so there is some motivation there,” she said. “There’s that friendly competition that makes everyone better.”