|
|
Most popular categories
| |
| PARTNERS, SPONSORS & RESOURCES SITES |
|
|
|
| | | | | Are Hospitalized Medicare Beneficiaries Safe? by nehamehta | | | According to the Institute of Medicine, the definition of patient safety is the “freedom from accidental injury due to medical care or medical errors.” They further define medical errors as “the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim…[including] problems in practice, products, procedures and systems.”
And that is why Health Grades, an independent health care ratings organization, has been conducting an annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals study of safety incidents which occur among hospitalized patients to help Medicare beneficiaries and other consumers to evaluate and compare hospital patient-safety performance.
Health Grades Analyzes Patient Data
This is the sixth straight year in which Health Grades has analyzed patient safety among Medicare beneficiaries for virtually all hospitals (nearly 5,000) within the U.S. Their findings are based on 15 indicators of patient safety.
The study found that while the number of incidents which occurred among hospitalized Medicare patients fell slightly below the one million mark in 2009, the number of injured did not vary greatly from previous years. These incidents created an additional $8.9 billion in annual health care costs. In addition 99,180 Medicare patients died as a result.
While hospitals have worked to implement strategies aimed at reducing preventable patient-safety events, the federal government continues to encourage hospitals to adopt safe practices by establishing a zero-tolerance policy for preventable hospital-acquired complications. Toward that end, as of October 2008 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ended reimbursement to hospitals for the care of 11 conditions when they are a direct result of the hospitalization.
The patient-safety incidents that rated highest were failure to rescue (92.7 percent), bed sores (36.1 percent), post operative respiratory failure (17.5 percent) and post operative sepsis (16.5 percent).
Good News for Hospitalized Medicare Patients
The news from the study wasn’t all bad. There were six indicators which showed improvement including complications related to anesthesia, failure to rescue, selected infections due to medical care, post operative hemorrhage or hematoma, post operative abdominal wound dehiscence and accidental punctures or lacerations.
Plus of the nearly 5,000 hospitals involved in the study, 238 hospitals in thirty-nine states were recognized with the HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award. One-third of these hospitals were located in six states—California, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
There are two important aspects to keep in mind. When a hospital is not rated, it means it had too few cases to be eligible. When a hospital is rated as the best, it means their patient-safety record is better than expected based on their patient population, placing them in the top 15 percent of hospitals. The report further suggests that if all hospitals had performed at the highest level, approximately 211,697 patient-safety events and 22,771 Medicare deaths could have been avoided thus saving the U.S. nearly $2.0 billion. | | | | Article Source : Article-treasure.com | | Publication date : 07-23-2010 | | | | Article by nehamehta | | | |
Health Grades, an independent health care ratings organization, has been conducting an annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals study of safety incidents which occur among hospitalized patients to help Medicare beneficiaries and other consumers to evaluate and compare hospital patient-safety performance.
| | | | Keywords : Medicare Supplemental Insurance, Medicare Supplemental Insurance Comparison, Medicare Supplemental Comparison, Best Medicare Supplemental Insurance Pl | | | | |
