What Are the Chances of Dying From a Hospitalization? Infections Are Down Dramatically

While hospitals are places for treatment and healing, they’re also places where people can potentially acquire fatal infections or suffer from medical mistakes. But, there is good news! The chances of dying just because you go to the hospital are down dramatically, according to a new government report.

The analysis from the Department of Health and Human Services finds 1.3 million fewer instances of harm to hospital patients between 2010 and 2014 – a 17 percent decrease in that three-year period. That translates into an estimated 50,000 more patients being alive today.

The report says the precise causes for the decline in hospital-acquired conditions is not known. The report notes that time period studied in the report coincides with a span of time when there were greater hospital efforts to increase safety and cut down on adverse events.

These efforts are driven in part by changes to Medicare that incentivize hospitals to do better. Starting in the 2015 fiscal year, hospitals ranked in the bottom 25 percent for hospital-acquired infections will see their Medicare payments cut by 1 percent.

A preliminary government analysis released in April found that 761 hospitals would be subject to the penalty. But that total could be much higher when the list gets finalized. The government will be looking at hospital performance over a longer time period, Kaiser Health News reports. These hospital sanctions will cost an estimated $330 million over the course of a year.

Another area where hospitals improved in patient safety is cutting down on instances where patients are given the wrong drugs, which can lead to an allergic reaction or some other adverse event. The report found that certain hospitals reduced these drug mistakes by 40 percent.

This documentation of improved patient safety comes with a beneficial side effect – reduced health care costs. The federal report finds that cutting down on medical mistakes saved $12 billion in the three-year period of the study. Despite the progress, government officials acknowledge there’s still room for improvement.

“These data represent the significant progress in improving the quality of care that patients receive while spending our health care dollars more wisely,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell says. “HHS will work with partners across the country to continue to build on this progress.”

We’d love to hear from you, so contact us.