Association of US News top ranking for gastroenterology, GI surgical procedures with outcomes

Editor's Note

Though the annual volume of gastroenterology and gastrointestinal (GI) advanced laparoscopic abdominal surgical procedures is three-fold higher for US News & World Report’s top-ranked hospitals, the volume does not appear to be associated with improved patient outcomes, this study finds.

In this analysis of 51,869 abdominal procedures, the annual case volume was 397 at top-ranked hospitals and 114 at nonranked hospitals.

No statistically significant differences were found in serious morbidity (0.04% vs 0.07%) or in-hospital mortality (1.06% vs 1.02%) between the two cohorts.

Procedures performed at top-ranked hospitals had higher mean costs ($7,128 vs $7,742) and longer mean lengths of stay (2.38 vs 2.73 days).

Results show that a high ranking for gastroenterology and GI surgical procedures by the US News & World Report is not a good proxy for the quality of surgical care for common advanced laparoscopic GI surgical procedures, the authors say.