Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY
Surgeons around the country are now scored against their peers in a new statistic developed by a non-profit news organization that goes beyond hospital-level data, providing a never-before-available tool for consumers and generating debate and some angst in the surgical community.
Nearly 17,000 doctors performing low-risk, common elective procedures such as gallbladder removal and hip replacements are measured in the new calculation, which the non-profit news outlet ProPublica calls an “Adjusted Complication Rate.” The data, derived from government records collected about Medicare patients, is now available online for anyone to search.
Who is responsible for reporting the complications?