Numerator
Pneumonia patients (cigarette smokers) who receive smoking cessation advice or counseling during the hospital stay
Denominator
Pneumonia patients > 17 years of age with a history of smoking cigarettes any time during the year prior to hospital arrival
Methodology
Hospital Compare sample rates were downloaded from the CMS web site: http://www.medicare.gov/Download/DownloadDB.asp
Hospital population weights were computed based on estimates imputed from the denominators for Hospital Compare readmissions. Hospital referral region (HRR) rates were computed as the weighted average of the hospital sample rates within the HRR using the population weights.
State rates were computed as weighted averages of the hospital sample rates within the state.