Docs may cherry-pick cases after death rate reports

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Doctors may avoid treating the sickest heart patients with a common procedure after their hospitals are marked as having high death rates, says a new study that points to a possible unintended consequence of transparency. Researchers found the severity of cases treated at four Massachusetts hospitals was lower after they were labeled “outliers” for having high death rates after stenting between 2003 and 2010, compared to their counterparts with lower death rates. …