Emergency status reshapes colon infection rankings

Accounting for emergency colon surgery changed infection-risk rankings: safety-net hospitals were no longer more likely to land in the highest-risk group.

• The analysis covered 360 hospitals in California and Florida; 79 were safety-net hospitals.
• Without emergency status in the model, safety-net hospitals were more likely to rank in the top fifth for adjusted infection risk.
• Adding emergency status removed that difference in rankings.

This changes hospital comparisons, not patients’ infections; the analysis used data from two states in 2021.