Table 2.

Characteristics of Designated Hospitals for Spine Surgery and Other Hospitals, 2008

Hospital Characteristics	Designated Hospitalsa N=369	Other Hospitals a N=1,449	p-valueb
Structural Characteristicsc
Number of Beds-- (% of hospitals)
<100	2.4	20.4	<0.01
100–400	56.6	63.2
>400	40.9	16.5
Region—(% of hospitals)
West	15.2	16.6	0.12
Midwest	29.5	23.5
South	37.1	40.5
Northeast	18.2	19.4
For profit (% of hospitals)	13.3	22.0	<0.01
Member of COTH (% of hospitals)	31.2	8.6	<0.01
Urban setting (% of hospitals)	100.0	97.0	<0.01
Medical/surgical ICU (% of hospitals)d	98.5	90.6	<0.01
Medicare insurance (average % of patients)	42.2	43.9	<0.01
Medicaid insurance (average % of patients)	16.3	16.9	0.25
No. of nurses/1000 patient-days (average)	6.9	8.9	0.12
All surgical operations – inpatient procedures per year (average)	6,689	3,509	<0.01
Patient Experience e (average percentage across all hospitals)
Nurses “always” communicated well	72.8	73.1	0.33
Doctors “always” communicated well	77.3	78.4	<0.01
Patient “always” received help as soon as they wanted it	58.2	60.2	0.03
Pain was “always” well controlled	66.9	67.5	0.12
Staff “always” explained medicines before giving it to them	57.1	57.6	<0.01
Room and bathroom were “always” clean	64.8	67.3	<0.01
Area around their room was “always” quiet at night	52.1	54.7	<0.01
Patients given information about what to do after discharge	81.6	80.8	<0.01
Rated hospital as 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 to 10 (highest)	65.3	64.2	0.05
Definitely would recommend the hospital	23.6	25.6	<0.01
Surgical Quality of Care f (average percentage across hospitals)
Patients given antibiotic within one hour before surgery	95.2	93.5	<0.01
Antibiotics stopped within 24 hours	92.4	90.1	<0.01
Patients given appropriate antibiotic	97.6	96.7	<0.01
Patients received appropriate timing of DVT prophylaxis	92.8	89.2	<0.01
Patients received DVT prophylaxis	95.1	91.7	<0.01
Patients received appropriate glucose control	90.7	84.0	<0.01
Patients received appropriate hair removal	98.1	98.1	0.90
Patients on beta blockers continued on beta blockers	90.1	89.1	0.16

Abbreviations: COTH= Council of Teaching Hospitals, ICU=intensive care unit, DVT=deep vein thrombosis

^aHospitals included are those with at least one spine surgery during the study period (July 2007–September 2009).

^bSignificant difference between designated hospitals and other hospitals based on a chi-square test or Satterthwaite t-test (P<.05).

^cStructural characteristics were derived from the 2008 American Hospital Association file. ⁵

^dHaving an ICU was a requirement for designated hospitals; however, not all reported having an ICU to the AHA survey.

^ePatient experience measures were derived from the 2008 H-CAHPS survey data available on the Medicare Hospital Compare website.¹⁷

^fSurgical quality of care measures were derived from the 2008 Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) data available on the Medicare Hospital Compare website.¹⁷