Risk-Adjusted Prolonged Length of Stay as an Alternative Outcome Measure for Pediatric Congenital Cardiac Surgery

The authors studied outcomes after congenital operations in 12 programs in New York state (4,776 operations) to assess whether prolonged length of stay (PLOS) can be used as a quality measure.  PLOS incidence ranged from 7.5% to 36.5.5.  PLOS was strongly correlated with mortality rates.  The authors conclude that PLOS is a reasonable quality metric, especially in low volume centers.