Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR)

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Performance Indicators - Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio

The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is a measure of patient safety that compares a hospital's mortality rate with a national standard. The HSMR is used by many hospitals around the world to help them identify what changes they may want to make in order to help improve patient safety and the quality of care, and to track their progress over time.

The HSMR is a ratio of "observed" to "expected" deaths, multiplied by 100. A ratio greater than 100 means more deaths occurred than expected, while a ratio less than 100 suggests fewer deaths occurred than expected. Therefore, hospitals want to have an HSMR below 100.

For more information about HSMR, please refer to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Interpretation

St. Michael's Hospital has consistenty performed well when compared to our Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) of Toronto Central hospitals. The Hospital's overall HSMR of 91 (95 including palliative care cases) is one of the lowest in the LHIN and is better than the overall LHIN HSMR.

Key

Lower than expected

Close to expected

Higher than expected

Blank: unavailable/
not applicable

Technical definitions

Fiscal Year	St. Michael's Hospital HSMR Excluding PC*	St. Michael's Hospital HSMR All Cases	LHIN HSMR Excluding PC*	LHIN HSMR All Cases
2004/05	92	94	100	96
2005/06	92	96	98	97
2006/07	90	96	96	97
Overall	91	95	98	97

* PC: Palliative Care.

CIHI HSMR Methodology version 3.0. Based on data submitted as of July 31, 2007. Report created by CIHI on September 11, 2007.