CIHR's Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health

Finding the Lessons in a Sea of Hospital Data

Report card on cardiac services

Nuclear medical scan of damaged heart muscle

Finding
Report cards are not just for schoolchildren. At hospitals in Ontario, they may also be helping to save lives. Researchers examined clinical data for heart disease patients across Ontario and issued cardiac care report cards to participating hospitals. The study found that up to 400 lives per year in the province could be saved if more heart attack and heart failure patients received drug therapy before they left the hospital.

Impact
The research, conducted by the Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team (CCORT), has helped demonstrate that rigorous analysis of health services data can provide highly useful information that can quickly and easily translate into improved care, saved lives and reduced costs.

Team
Dr. Jack Tu of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences was the lead author on this study.

Funding Partners
CIHR, Heart and Stroke Foundation