Critically ill heart, pneumonia patients fare worse at four Nashville-area hospitals

The Tennessean, July 31, 2009

In an effort to measure how American hospitals are caring for their most critically ill patients, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services analyzed deaths from heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia at 4,600 hospitals in recent years. Baptist Hospital in Tennessee scored slightly worse than the national average for deaths from heart failure, which the hospital says reflects faulty paperwork instead of poor patient care. Three other Nashville-area hospitals—Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia, Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin and Gateway Medical Center in Clarksville—scored worse than the national average for deaths from pneumonia.