A government analysis of U.S. hospital death rates lists two local hospitals as standouts.

The Community Hospital in Munster and Methodist Hospitals, with campuses in Gary and Merrillville, both boasted death rates that were some of the lowest in the country for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted the analysis Wednesday on its Hospital Compare consumer Web site, www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

The agency used Medicare data on patients discharged from hospitals between July 2006 and June 2007 to tally mortality rates for heart failure, heart attacks and pneumonia within 30 days of discharge.

The mortality rates take into account how sick patients were before they were admitted to the hospital.

The agency Web site allows consumers to compare their own hospital with others nearby or across the country, not only for mortality rates but for what percentage of patients get appropriate care for lung disease, diabetes, and other conditions, or following surgery.

Community Hospital, with death rates of 7.1 percent for heart failure and 7.6 percent for pneumonia, and Methodist Hospitals, with an 8.6 percent heart failure death rate, were the only two local hospitals whose 30-day mortality rates were lower than the national average, the analysis shows.

"This recognition of outstanding care for patients diagnosed with heart failure and pneumonia is a real credit to the expertise and teamwork of our doctors and hospital staff," Community Hospital administrator Donald Fesko said.

The federal agency, a wing of the Department of Health and Human Services, introduced the Hospital Compare Web site in 2005 as a tool for consumers in making health care decisions.

Actual death rates were disclosed for the first time this year, while in past years only broad comparisons of how hospital stacked up to the national rate were released.

The agency took a different approach in this year's analysis by tallying death rates for common life-threatening conditions, not the hospitals' overall mortality rates, according to a Wednesday report in USA Today.

It also factored in the hospital's patient mix and how many deaths might be expected in a hospital with that population, the USA Today report said.

The new approach came in response to criticism that adequate weight hadn't been given to a hospital's mix of patients.