Quality of Care

How We Report Preventing Serious Complications

Preventing Serious Complications measures how likely it is that patients will have complications while in the hospital or after having certain tests or surgeries. This score uses ten Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ):

  1. Pressure sores (pressure ulcers, PSI #03)
  2. Collapsed lung due to medical treatment (iatrogenic pneumothorax, PSI #06)
  3. Broken hip from a fall after surgery (postoperative hip fracture rate, PSI #08)
  4. Bleeding or bruising during surgery (perioperative hemorrhage or hematoma, PSI #09)
  5. Kidney and diabetic complications after surgery (postoperative acute kidney injury requiring dialysis, PSI #10)
  6. Respiratory failure after surgery (postoperative respiratory failure, PSI #11)
  7. Blood clots, in the lung or a large vein, before, during or after surgery (deep vein thrombosis, PSI #12)
  8. Blood stream infection after surgery (postoperative sepsis, PSI #13)
  9. A wound that splits open after surgery (postoperative wound dehiscence, PSI #14)
  10. Accidental cuts and tears during abdominal or pelvic surgery (Unrecognized Abdominopelvic Accidental Puncture/Laceration Rate, PSI #15)

Hospitals can often prevent these complications by following established best practices. Preventing serious complications is an important way of measuring the quality of patient care.

Data for this measure comes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and is one of the eight safety of care measures factored into the Five-Star Overall Hospital Quality Rating. The preventing serious complications data on CompareMaine covers the July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2022 reporting period.

For more information, download the quality data reported on CompareMaine.