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FRIDAY, Aug. 24, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The rate of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) continued its decline from 2014 to 2016, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) National Scorecard on Hospital-Acquired Conditions.<\/p>\n
For the 2014 to 2016 period the agency updated its methods to include a larger portion of hospital inpatients, but continued to use the same 28 measures of patient safety events, including many types of hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, injuries due to procedures, pressure ulcers, and falls. This methodology established a new baseline of 98 HACs per 1,000 discharges for 2014 and will be used to monitor progress towards the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ goal to reduce HACs by 20 percent from 2014 to 2019.<\/p>\n
Based on the HAC reductions seen in 2015 and 2016 versus baseline in 2014, AHRQ estimates that there were 350,000 fewer HACs. These HAC reductions lead to an estimated $2.9 billion in cost savings and prevention of about 8,000 inpatient deaths. Specifically, adverse drug events continued to drop from 2014 to 2016, but pressure ulcers increased from 2014 to 2016.<\/p>\n
“This work could not be accomplished without the concerted effort of our many hospital, patient, provider, private, and federal partners — all working together to ensure the best possible care by protecting patients from harm and making care safer,” Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a statement.<\/p>\n