Improved standards and patient handling techniques have led to a significant reduction in the number of patients killed due to avoidable errors over the last three years, according to a new report by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The report suggests that an estimated 50,000 fewer patients have died over the past three years due to a variety of factors. Some of the changes that led to fewer avoidable errors include:
- New financial incentives for keeping patients healthier.
- Improvements in “best practices,” like patient handling and shift-change handoffs.
- Penalties for hospitals who experience excessive remissions.
- Some health insurers have stopped paying for hospitals’ mistakes.
Another key aspect in reducing preventable errors is through improved sterilization and quarantining techniques. Hospitals reported 1.3 million fewer hospital-acquired infections between 2011-2013. The rate of infection during that period was a 17 percent drop from the rate in 2010. Still though, the numbers are too high, as about 12 percent of all hospitalized patients still experience an “adverse event” during their stay.
The HHS also noted there have been fewer adverse drug events, pressure ulcers and falls over the past four years. The reduction in adverse events saved the healthcare industry $12 billion between 2011 and 2013.
“We made major investments in quality improvements,” said a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services senior official on Monday. “We made investments in the research and understanding of patient safety.”
The three-year analysis shows that the healthcare industry is heading in the right direction, as 2013 was safer than the previous two years. About $8 billion of the $12 billion in savings came in 2013 alone. A senior HHS official called the improvements “unprecedented.”
“The improvements we’ve seen in the last two years seem much larger than anything that’s been published by any researchers” during earlier years.
Dr. Silverman comments
Just yesterday I shared a story about confirmation and cognitive bias. Avoidable mistakes occur, but it’s great to hear they are happening at a significantly reduced rate. Doctors and nurses are triple and quadruple checking patient charts, and patient handoffs during shift changes are also improving.
I hope we can continue to build on these positive changes in 2015.
Related source: Washington Post