A South Florida hospital is being probed after a report that its pediatric cardiac surgery program has a mortality rate far above the national average.
The investigation by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services comes after CNN reported the four-year-old program at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach had a mortality rate of 12.5 percent from 2011 to 2013, dwarfing the 3.3 percent national average. The Palm Beach Post reports Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration says it already had been investigating St. Mary's.
St. Mary's says CNN used misleading numbers and the unit's mortality rate is in line with the national average. The hospital says it hasn't been contacted by federal officials but will cooperate with an investigation.
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