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Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery -1 (RACHS-1) for Evaluation of Mortality in Children Undergoing Cardiac Surgery

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Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Care

Abstract

Assessing quality of care provided by a health care system requires a clear understanding of non-modifiable risks present prior to entry into the system. Risk adjustment is a process of understanding and accounting for these risk factors when evaluating outcomes of health care. Surgery for congenital heart disease requires the performance of a large range of procedures. These procedures vary widely in complexity, and surgical complexity strongly influences survival following congenital heart surgery. A risk adjustment method that adjusts for risk based on procedural complexity is thus required when assessing quality of pediatric cardiac surgical care provided by or between institutions. Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) method is a simple, well-tested, widely used, and excellent risk adjustment method for assessing quality of care in children undergoing congenital heart surgery.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Department of Cardiology, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Ravi R. Thiagarajan MBBS, MPH

  2. Department of Critical Care Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada

    Peter C. Laussen MBBS, FCICM

  3. Department of Anaesthesia, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Peter C. Laussen MBBS, FCICM

Authors
  1. Ravi R. Thiagarajan MBBS, MPH
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  2. Peter C. Laussen MBBS, FCICM
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ravi R. Thiagarajan MBBS, MPH .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine,, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Paul R. Barach

  2. Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Heart Institute, All Children’s Hospital and Florida Hospital for Children, Johns Hopkins University, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Orlando, FL, USA,, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Jeffery P. Jacobs

  3. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

    Steven E. Lipshultz

  4. The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Peter C. Laussen

Appendix 1: The Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) Categories (January 1, 2010)

Appendix 1: The Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) Categories (January 1, 2010)

Appendix 1 documents how the Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) Categories are applied in the STS Congenital Heart Surgery Database and the EACTS Congenital Heart Surgery Database [18].

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Thiagarajan, R.R., Laussen, P.C. (2015). Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery -1 (RACHS-1) for Evaluation of Mortality in Children Undergoing Cardiac Surgery. In: Barach, P., Jacobs, J., Lipshultz, S., Laussen, P. (eds) Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Care. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6587-3_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6587-3_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-6586-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-6587-3

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