Quality & Patient Safety

HealthGrades releases sixth annual patient safety study results

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, April 8, 2009

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The sixth annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study was released on April 7, highlighting the number of patient lives and money that could have been saved if all hospitals were performing at the level of the top 5% of hospitals nationwide. Each hospital in the top 5% receives the 2009 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award.

The study analyzes Medicare data from patients at nearly 5,000 non-federal hospitals nationwide. The data are collected around 15 patient safety indicators developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This year's survey shows that between 2005 and 2007, more than 913,000 patient safety events occurred, representing 2.3% of all Medicare hospitalizations. Additionally, while eight of the indicators showed improvement, seven worsened over the study and these indicators represented 85% of all patient safety incidents included in the study.

To read more about the HealthGrades study, click here.



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