Medical Staff

HHS partners with hospitals for ambitious patient safety goals

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, April 19, 2011

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week launched a national collaboration with private and public organizations, including hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses, patient advocates, and state and federal governments to provide better care and reduce costs.

The collaboration, called “Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs,” aims to reduce hospital-acquired conditions by 40% by 2013, saving 60,000 lives during the next three years. In addition, HHS aims to reduce hospital readmissions by 20% by 2013, preventing 1.6 million patients from being rehospitalized.

“For the first time, it establishes safety goals and programs as a private/public partnership, with early buy in from large insurers and employers,” says Robert M. Wachter, MD, about the collaboration on his blog, “Wachter’s World. “…It rewards hospitals for achieving certain milestones with both recognition and additional resources; those that do very well will be eligible to receive funding to help other hospitals improve,” he says.
 

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