Measure Methodology Reports

Mortality Measures

The methods used in the development of the 30-day, risk-standardized mortality measures, as well as in subsequent annual measure updates and quality assurance activities, are described briefly here and in more detail in several technical reports, below. For more detailed justifications of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) methodological choices in the development and maintenance of the mortality measures, refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (PDF-565 KB).

2013 AMI, HF, PN Mortality Measure Maintenance

CMS reviews and updates the mortality measures annually. The report below, formerly called the Measure Maintenance Technical Report, describes the measures maintenance activities conducted in preparation for the most recent public reporting cycle.

Previous AMI, HF, PN Mortality Measure Maintenance

Annual updates of the mortality measures began in 2008. The following reports document the progression of the measure methodology as a result of the annual measure maintenance.

Mortality Measure Development (original methodology reports)

The CMS 30-day risk-standardized mortality measures were developed by a team of clinical and statistical experts from Yale and Harvard Universities, using a methodology that has been published in peer-reviewed literature. These measures were estimated with Medicare and Veteran's Affairs (VA) administrative data and validated with models based on medical record abstracted data. The results of the administrative models were highly correlated with results of medical records models.

The measure methodology is described in the following two reports:

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