A new AHRQ report released by the Department of Health and Human Services shows that an estimated 87,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and nearly $20 billion in health care costs were saved as a result of reductions in hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) from 2010 to 2014. The report – Saving Lives & Saving Money: Hospital-Acquired Conditions Update – indicates that HACs were reduced by 17 percent in 2014, contributing to an overall reduction of 2.1 million HACs since 2010.
To develop the report, AHRQ analyzed the incidence of avoidable HACs compared with 2010 rates, using as a baseline estimates of deaths and excess health care costs that were developed when the Partnership for Patients was launched. AHRQ’s analysis included a number of HACs including adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections, pressure ulcers and surgical site infections, among others. This new report updates data released in December 2014.
Read more:http://www.ahrq.gov/news/newsroom/press-releases/2015/saving-lives.html