The ratio of the actual number of in-hospital deaths in a region or hospital to the number that would have been expected, based on the types of patients a region or hospital treats.
Lower is better. The HSMR is most useful to follow a hospital's performance over time.
Data availability:
to (fiscal years)
Geographic coverage
All provinces
Reporting level
National, Province/Territory, Region, Facility
Calculation
The ratio of the actual number of in-hospital deaths to the expected number of in-hospital deaths, for conditions accounting for about 80% of inpatient mortality
Unit of Analysis: Hospitalization
Denominator
Expected deaths, or number of deaths that would have occurred in a hospital or region had the mortality of these patients been the same as the mortality of similar patients across the country, based on the reference years (2018–2019 to 2020–2021)
HSMR case selection criteria:
Numerator
Observed deaths, or actual number of in-hospital deaths that occurred in a hospital or region
Comments
Further information is available in the Technical Notes and other HSMR resources.
Indicator results are also available in