NORMAL - BroMenn Regional Medical Center won't look good in the latest Web-based measure comparing hospital data.

But the Normal hospital and the Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) question whether the latest measure - of pneumonia mortality rates - is complete in its current format.

Meanwhile, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington is performing better, according to the data.

The information shows the percentage of Medicare patients with pneumonia, from July 2006 to June 2007, who died within 30 days of their hospital stay.

The pneumonia 30-day mortality rate will be the latest information to be released on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Hospital Compare Web site - www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov - this week or next week. Previous measures related to heart attack care, heart failure care, pneumonia care and surgical infection prevention.

Hospitals received the comparison results early. BroMenn is among three hospitals in Illinois and 74 nationally which performed worse than the national average in pneumonia 30-day mortality rate.

St. Joseph is among 175 hospitals in Illinois and 4,575 nationally that performed at the national average, said Dr. Paul Pedersen, the hospital's vice president and chief medical officer. Four hospitals in Illinois and 41 nationally performed better than the national average.

"We were surprised," Dr. Gary Hagens, BroMenn chief operating officer and vice president of medical affairs, said of BroMenn's results.

BroMenn analyzed its data of the 122 Medicare patients - 25 of whom died - and found that the average age of the patients was 82 and that 70 percent of them had chronic respiratory conditions, said Ann Frederick, BroMenn director of quality and resource management. Twenty-three of the 25 patients had said in their do-not resuscitate (DNR) orders that no aggressive measures should be taken to keep them alive.

"We honor our patients' wishes," she said.

DNR orders by patients were not considered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in compiling the data, she said. Those orders should be considered because BroMenn educates patients about advance directives and may have had a higher percentage of patients who decided against aggressive measures to keep them alive, she said.

"We deliver excellent care and follow best practices," Hagens said. "Our practice patterns will not change."

IHA agrees with BroMenn.

"It's a huge concern," said Pat Merryweather, hospital association senior vice president. "The DNR needs to be considered. You want to measure outcomes of care but want to do it appropriately."

Of 87 Medicare patients with pneumonia at St. Joseph during that year, 13.2 percent died within 30 days, which is close to the national rate of 11.4 percent.

"I think there certainly are opportunities for improvement," said Deb Smith, St. Joseph vice president and chief nursing officer.

In addition to using the Web site, potential patients should talk with other patients, their doctors and representatives of hospitals before deciding where to get their health care, Pedersen and Smith said.