Transparency and Public Reporting of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery Outcomes in North America

In January 2015, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) began to publicly report outcomes of pediatric and congenital cardiac surgery using the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database (STS CHSD) Mortality Risk Model. Because the STS CHSD Mortality Risk Model adjusts for procedural factors and patient-level factors, it is critical that centers are aware of the important impact of incomplete entry of data in the fields for patient-level factors. These factors are used to estimate expected mortality, and incomplete coding of these factors can lead to inaccurate assessment of case mix and estimation of expected mortality. In order to assure an accurate assessment of case mix and estimate of expected mortality, it is critical to assure accurate completion of the fields for patient factors, including preoperative factors.