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<p>Wilkes-Barre General Hospital&#8217;s mortality rates were &#8220;significantly higher than expected&#8221; for patients with four conditions last year, according to a new report released today.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) unveiled the 2015 &#8220;Hospital Performance Report,&#8221; which provides mortality and readmission rates for 17 different conditions, and gauges the actual rates of each hospital to &#8220;expected rates.&#8221; The data is from January through September 2015.</p><p>The vast majority of hospitals had rates that were &#8220;not significantly different than expected.&#8221; But Wilkes-Barre General, owned by Tennessee-based, for-profit Commonwealth Health Systems, had higher-than-expected rates for patients admitted for abnormal heartbeat, diabetes-medical management, kidney and urinary tract infections and septicemia (blood infection).</p><p>No other Luzerne County hospitals on the list had higher-than-expected mortality rates in any of the 17 conditions reviewed.</p><p>Even so, the report arguably showed improvement at Wilkes-Barre General when compared to last year&#8217;s data. In 2014, the hospital had higher-than-expected mortality rates for seven conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, kidney and urinary tract infections, acute kidney failure, pneumonia-aspiration, infectious pneumonia and septicemia.</p><p>In a written statement from spokeswoman Renita Fennick, Wilkes-Barre General noted the report &#8220;is just one of many data tools developed to assist consumers in choosing health care providers, and should be used as a means to initiate a conversation with a physician&#8221; regarding those choices.</p><p>&#8220;While we are pleased to have improved our performance rating in several categories,&#8221; the statement said, &#8220;we think it is important to note that these results are from 2015, and we firmly believe the 2016 figures will show further improvement.&#8221;</p><p>Readmission data was favorable for Wilkes-Barre General and Geisinger Wyoming Valley. General had readmission rates for pneumonia-aspiration that were significantly lower than expected. At Geisinger Wyoming Valley, readmission rates for stroke and chest pain fell into that category.</p><p>Lehigh Valley/Hazleton Hospital improved in pneumonia-aspiration. In 2014, it had a significantly higher than expected mortality rate, while, in 2015, it was &#8220;not significantly different than expected.&#8221;</p><p>The report also provides the actual average charge for each condition/procedure and the expected average. By those numbers, Lehigh Valley/Hazleton appears the best deal, with the actual average charge below the expected average for 16 conditions (there was no data for heart attack &#8212; angioplasty/stent).</p><p>Actual charges at Lehigh Valley/Hazleton ranged from $17,943 to $77,846. At Wilkes-Barre General, the range was $24,166 to $141,068. At Geisinger Wyoming Valley, it was $24,018 to $120,426.</p><p>Actual average charges were above expected averages for all conditions at Wilkes-Barre General and Geisinger Wyoming Valley.</p><p>At Geisinger Wyoming Valley, the smallest difference between actual and expected average charge was $3,393 for hypotension and fainting, while the biggest gap was $39,824 for heart attack &#8212; angioplasty/stent.</p><p>At Wilkes-Barre General, the smallest gap between actual and expected charges was $1,579 for diabetes-medical management, while the biggest gap was $58,628 for heart attack &#8212; angioplasty/stent.</p><p>PHC4 was created by the state Legislature in 1986 as an independent state agency to collect, analyze and report information useful in improving quality while restraining cost of health care. The full reports and data are posted online at <a href="http://www.phc4.org/" target="_blank">phc4.org</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital has some higher-than-average mortality rates