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Study: Patient safety performance varies across U.S.

Quality Improvement Monitor, March 10, 2005

Patient safety at hospitals varies dramatically across the nation, but the highest performance on patient safety is centered in the Midwestern states, not the most populous states on the coasts, according to new findings by Solucient.

Eleven out of 12 states in the Midwestern region (90%) were ranked highest in terms of patient safety, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. New York, New Jersey, Nevada and California were ranked among the poorest performing states in patient safety.

These findings are part of the 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success, 12th Edition study, which included patient safety as a measurement for the first time.

Solucient is a healthcare information products company based in Evanston, IL.

Solucient's 100 Top Hospitals patient safety index was calculated using patient safety indicators developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, including postoperative complications (like bleeding, hip fracture and respiratory failure), infection rates, and other measures of patient safety.

The data was collected in 2002 and 2003. States were then ranked and grouped into quintiles based on their overall patient safety performance, with states in quintiles one and two ranked the best in terms of patient safety.

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