HARRISBURG — The in-hospital death rate for heart-bypass surgery patients in Pennsylvania declined in 2006 to its lowest level in more than a decade, a watchdog group said in report released today.

Bypass patient readmission rates also declined between 2005 and 2006, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council said in a report on coronary bypass and heart-valve procedures.

The 2006 bypass mortality rate was 1.8 percent, half the 1990 rate and down one-tenth of a percentage point from 2005. During the same one-year period, 5.4 percent of all bypass patients were readmitted to the hospital within a week of being discharged, down from 5.5 percent in 2005, and 13 percent were readmitted within 30 days, compared with 13.6 percent in 2005.

"It is more evidence that the process of public reporting works," said David Kreider, the council's chairman.

The council, a quasi-governmental agency that monitors hospital finances and performance, has published annual reports on bypass surgeries and how much hospitals charge for them since 1992. It added information on heart-valve procedures last year.

Of the 16,663 patients who had one or both procedures in 2006, 1,048 of them, or more than 6 percent, contracted infections during their hospital stays, according to data supplied to the council by hospitals.

The council also noted a drop in the average number of open-heart surgery cases per surgeon and per hospital.

Medicare payments for a hospital stay averaged $30,423 for bypass patients, $42,128 for patients who had heart-valve surgery and $45,620 for patients who had both procedures.

The 2006 report does not include information on the average private insurance payment for bypass or valve procedures because the council said it is currently unable to make standard comparisons among insurance companies. Calculating an average is difficult because insurance payments can vary according to the type of health plan, and commercial contracts with hospitals might use varying payment methods, the report said.

The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, a hospital lobbying group, said the results show an improving quality of health care for heart patients.

"The good news ... is that current medical approaches to cardiac care are reducing the need for surgery for many patients and that for patients who will need surgical care, the quality of that surgery continues to improve," said Carolyn F. Scanlan, the association's president and chief executive officer.

Scanlan also urged state lawmakers to pass legislation to reauthorize the council as soon as possible.

The council was shut down briefly in July amid a policy showdown between Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican lawmakers over expanding state-subsidized health insurance to uninsured adults. It was revived temporarily under an executive order that expires Nov. 30, the end of the current legislative session.