Interhospital Variation in 180-Day Infections and Associated Medicare Spending after Cardiac Surgery.

Among 239,039 procedures at 1,007 hospitals, the mean (SD) age was 74.2 (5.3) years; 29.0% were female, 87.1% White, and 3.9% African American.

Infections occurred in 20.8% of procedures.

The adjusted infection rate was 24.7 per 100 patient-months (95%CI, 23.8-25.6), varying across hospital terciles: low 18.6 (95%CI, 17.0-19.0), middle 24.1 (95%CI, 22.4-25.4), and high 40.8 (95%CI, 38.2-44.5) per 100 patient-months (P<.0001).

Infection rates explained 23.6% of variation in spending.