Quality Measures

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 some tests or certain 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 if they follow the right steps. Preventing serious complications is considered an indicator of the quality of patient care.

Our data for this measure comes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The data on CompareMaine covers the July 1, 2018 – December 31, 2019 reporting period.

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