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U.S. Teaching Hospitals Are Expensive, But Have Lower Death Rates

Lisa Rapaport  |  

“The fact that we did not see this is reassuring,” Arora, who wasn’t involved in the study, says by email.

It’s possible, too, that the added supervision at teaching hospitals ensures that physicians are available around the clock when emergencies arise or patients deteriorate, improving mortality rates by saving patients who might otherwise have died, says Dr. Karl Bilimoria of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

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“This study is critically important in that it shows lower mortality rates at teaching hospitals, thus demonstrating that care is quite safe at major academic centers even when trainees are involved,” Bilimoria, who wasn’t involved in the study, says by email.

“Mortality is the bottom line of health care,” Bilimoria adds. “It is critically important and it is also a very fair and well-done metric, so patients should have more faith in that measure of hospital quality than many others.”

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Reference

  1. Burke LG, Frakt AB, Khullar D, et al. Association between teaching status and mortality in U.S. hospitals. JAMA. 2017;317(20):2105–2113. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.5702.

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