Healthgrades announced the recipients of the Healthgrades 2022 Patient Safety Excellence Awards. This year’s awards recognize 448 top hospitals across the nation that excel in providing top-quality care for their patients while preventing serious injuries during hospital stays, giving consumers increased transparency to make more confident care decisions.
During the study period (2018 through 2020), Healthgrades found that there were 170,231 potentially preventable patient safety events among Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals. If all hospitals, as a group, performed similarly to the Healthgrades Patient Safety Award Recipients, on average, 100,189 patient safety events could have been avoided.
Additionally, the analysis found that just four patient safety indicators accounted for 74% of all patient safety events:
- In-Hospital fall resulting in hip fracture (22.2% of all patient safety events)*
- Collapsed lung resulting from a procedure or surgery in or around the chest (21.1% of all patient safety events)*
- Pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital (15.3% of all patient safety events)*
- Catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital (15.0% of all patient safety events)*
Healthgrades also found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades 2022 Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:
- 55.8% less likely to experience an in-hospital fall resulting in hip fracture, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
- 52.6% less likely to experience a collapsed lung resulting from a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
- 66.2% less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals*
- 65.8% less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at nonrecipient hospitals*
*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades Patient Safety Ratings and Excellence Award™ methodology which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 2021.0.1) to MedPAR data for years 2018 through 2020 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.
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