Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR)

HSMR is an indicator and measurement tool that compares a hospital’s mortality rate with the overall average rate. It has been used by hospitals in many jurisdictions to assess and analyze mortality, and to identify areas for improvement if any.

Why PRH does not qualify to publicly report our HSMR results

The purpose of HSMR is to show statistically stable and reliable information. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has calculated the HSMR for eligible acute care hospitals in Canada. CIHI has made HSMR results public only for “eligible” hospitals – those with more than 2,500 HSMR cases. It has not released results for hospitals, like ours, with less than 2,500 HSMR cases because the low numbers make the results statistically unstable and therefore, less reliable. 

Ontario’s hospitals are among the most accountable anywhere, and our hospital takes a great deal of pride in how open and transparent we are to the people we serve. Although our HSMR is not a stable indicator to use, there are benefits and practices that can come from other hospitals’ analysis of their mortality rates that we can also review and consider applicability for our programs and services.

We encourage the public to refer to the Champlain LHIN-level HSMR result, which can give an indication of performance on this particular indicator in this region.