Paredes AZ, Hyer JM, Tsilimigras DI, et al. - Among Medicare beneficiaries, researchers examined if and how payer-mix affects postoperative outcomes following hepatopancreatic surgery. They categorized hospitals based on Medicare patient days vs all patient days irrespective of payer type (low/average vs high). Higher ranking compared to the national average was more likely for high Medicare patient-mix hospitals in terms of safety of care (29.4% vs. 38.1%) and timeliness of care (15.4% vs. 26.3%) vs low burden Medicare hospitals. However, risk of a complication and death within 30-days was higher after surgery among Medicare beneficiaries who had hepatopancreatic surgery at a high Medicare patient-mix hospital. Findings thereby suggest that, despite generally better performance with respect to CMS quality indicators of hospitals caring for higher numbers of Medicare beneficiaries, these rankings did not reflect improved postoperative outcomes.