Safety Up, Readmissions Down

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LAS VEGAS – Hospital quality and safety are improving across the board, with readmissions and health care–acquired infections falling fast, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.The agency reported in April a 9% drop in harm experienced by patients in hospitals in 2012, compared to the 2010 baseline, and an 8% decrease in Medicare 30-day readmissions.Earlier at the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine, Patrick Conway, MD, chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at CMS, called the numbers “dramatic progress.”Hospitals have reduced harm such as central line–associated bloodstream infections, adverse drug events, pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and falls in hospitals, saving 15,000 lives and more than $4 billion, he said. The estimate comes from chart reviews of all-cause patient harm measures.Quality improvements include: ▸Central line–associated bloodstream infections down 40%.▸Surgical site infections down 22%.▸Early elective deliveries down more than 50%.Medicare's 30-day all-cause hospital readmission rate had been hovering around 19% or 20% nationally through 2011, but it has now dropped below 17.5%, Dr. Conway said. LAS VEGAS – Hospital quality and safety are improving across the board, with readmissions and health care–acquired infections falling fast, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The agency reported in April a 9% drop in harm experienced by patients in hospitals in 2012, compared to the 2010 baseline, and an 8% decrease in Medicare 30-day readmissions. Earlier at the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine, Patrick Conway, MD, chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at CMS, called the numbers “dramatic progress.” Hospitals have reduced harm such as central line–associated bloodstream infections, adverse drug events, pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and falls in hospitals, saving 15,000 lives and more than $4 billion, he said. The estimate comes from chart reviews of all-cause patient harm measures. Quality improvements include: ▸Central line–associated bloodstream infections down 40%.▸Surgical site infections down 22%.▸Early elective deliveries down more than 50%. Medicare's 30-day all-cause hospital readmission rate had been hovering around 19% or 20% nationally through 2011, but it has now dropped below 17.5%, Dr. Conway said.