@article {573081,
	title = {Thirty-day outcomes in Medicare patients with heart failure at heart transplant centers},
	journal = {Circ Heart Fail},
	volume = {3},
	number = {2},
	year = {2010},
	month = {2010 Mar},
	pages = {244-52},
	abstract = {BACKGROUND: Heart transplant centers are generally considered "centers of excellence" for heart failure care. However, their overall performance has not previously been evaluated in a broad population of elderly patients with heart failure, many of whom are not transplant candidates.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We identified >1 million elderly Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized for heart failure between 2004 and 2006 at >4500 hospitals. We calculated 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates and standardized mortality ratios as well as 30-day risk-standardized readmission rates and standardized readmission ratios at heart transplant centers and non-heart transplant hospitals using risk-standardization models that the Centers for Medicare \& Medicaid Services uses for public reporting. The 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates were lower at heart transplant centers than non-heart transplant hospitals nationally (10.6\% versus 11.5\%, P,
	keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Algorithms, Analysis of Variance, Female, Heart Failure, Heart Transplantation, Hospitals, Special, Humans, Linear Models, Male, Medicare, Patient Readmission, Risk, United States},
	issn = {1941-3297},
	doi = {10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.109.884098},
	author = {Hummel, Scott L and Pauli, Natalie P and Krumholz,Harlan M. and Wang, Yun and Chen, Jersey and Normand, Sharon-Lise T. and Nallamothu, Brahmajee K}
}
