Sources of Variation in Hospital-Level Infection Rates After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: An Analysis of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Heart Surgery Database

Substantial hospital-level variation exists in postoperative HAIs among patients undergoing CABG, driven predominantly by pneumonia. Given the relatively small absolute differences in comorbidities across hospital groups, our findings suggest factors other than case mix may explain the observed variation in HAI rates.