difficult except question

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difficult except question

by abhijeetsinghai » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:12 pm
Lists of hospitals have been compiled showing which hospitals have patient death rates exceeding the national average. The data have been adjusted to allow for differences in the ages of patients.
Each of the following, if true, provides a good logical ground for hospitals to object to interpreting rank on these lists as one of the indices of the quality of hospital care EXCEPT:
(A) Rank order might indicate insignificant differences, rather than large differences, in numbers of patient deaths.
(B) Hospitals that keep patients longer are likely to have higher death rates than those that discharge patients earlier but do not record deaths of patients at home after discharge.
(C) Patients who are very old on admission to a hospital are less likely than younger patients to survive the same types of illnesses or surgical procedures.
(D) Some hospitals serve a larger proportion of low-income patients, who tend to be more seriously ill when admitted to a hospital.
(E) For-profit hospitals sometimes do not provide intensive-care units and other expensive services for very sick patients but refer or transfer such patients to other hospitals.


I am confused between A and C..pls throw some light..Thanks in advance...
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by Eye-on-the-Prize » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:35 pm
I was actually choosing between C and D, but assuming you are aware of the OA, I am more confident that it is probably C.

a) Lets say we have 3 hospitals, X, Y, & Z, on the list in that order. X has 100 deaths, Y has 2, and Z has 1. If the rates are not listed, but merely the names of the hospitals, then one cannot tell that X is drastically worse than Y and Z. Therefore this seems to be a logical reason to object the use of this list as an indices of the quality of hospital care.

b) Also a logical argument - a hospital that keeps patients longer will likely have a better quality of health care but risks losing more patients.

c) This is not a very logical ground because hospitals treat people of all ages (unless there are some hospitals that I am not aware of the exclusively treat elderly people)

d) This is questionably logical, but I believe an added inference must be made in order to connect the dots. Some hospitals are located in low-income areas, which treat a larger percentage of low-income patients than others. In order to presume that this is a reason the hospital has higher mortality rates would be based on the assumption that low-income patients cannot afford comparable health care plans. Currently, this is probably a safe assumption, nonetheless, it is still an assumption.

e) Clearly logical

OA?
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by abhijeetsinghai » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:56 pm
OA: C
Thanks for your kind help.

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Re: difficult except question

by Ian Stewart » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:34 pm
abhijeetsinghai wrote:Lists of hospitals have been compiled showing which hospitals have patient D€@th rates exceeding the national average. The data have been adjusted to allow for differences in the ages of patients.
Each of the following, if true, provides a good logical ground for hospitals to object to interpreting rank on these lists as one of the indices of the quality of hospital care EXCEPT:
(A) Rank order might indicate insignificant differences, rather than large differences, in numbers of patient deaths.
(B) Hospitals that keep patients longer are likely to have higher D€@th rates than those that discharge patients earlier but do not record deaths of patients at home after discharge.
(C) Patients who are very old on admission to a hospital are less likely than younger patients to survive the same types of illnesses or surgical procedures.
(D) Some hospitals serve a larger proportion of low-income patients, who tend to be more seriously ill when admitted to a hospital.
(E) For-profit hospitals sometimes do not provide intensive-care units and other expensive services for very sick patients but refer or transfer such patients to other hospitals.
I've highlighted the key part of the stem above. The data has already been adjusted for the age of patients, so answer C is not a relevant objection.

As for D, I don't find as Eye-on-the-Prize does above, that it requires any significant assumption. It is not that some hospitals serve low income patients that is relevant here; it's that, as D says, these patients are 'more seriously ill' than at other hospitals.
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by mason77 » Sat May 14, 2016 1:21 am
I like explanation on C