Fig. 1

Facility variation in use of pre-operative echocardiography in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Smoothed distribution of pre-operative echocardiography rates by hospital. Of the 146 Veterans Affairs hospitals, 117 with at least 25 surgeries in the overall population, 87 with at least 25 surgeries in the population with recent MI, HF, or VHD, and 117 with at least 25 surgeries in the population without recent MI, HF, or VHD were included