$110M in funding to support continued patient safety improvement

The latest Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funding will go toward efforts to reduce preventable hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions.

The federal government awarded $110 million in Affordable Care Act funding to 17 national, regional or state hospital associations and health system organizations. Through the Partnership for Patients initiative—a nationwide public-private collaboration that began in 2011 to reduce preventable hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent and 30-day readmissions by 20 percent—the second round of the Hospital Engagement Networks will continue to work to improve patient care in the hospital setting.

“We have made significant progress in keeping patients safe and we are focused on accelerating improvement efforts through collaboration and reliable implementation of best practices,” said Patrick Conway, MD, CMS acting principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer, in a statement. “This second round of Hospital Engagement Networks will allow us to continue to improve healthcare safety across the nation.”

Since the launch of the Partnership for Patients, the vast majority of U.S. hospitals and many other stakeholders have joined the collaborative effort and delivered results. Estimates indicate that 50,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and approximately $12 billion in healthcare costs were saved as a result of a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2013. Nationally, patient safety is improving, resulting in 1.3 million adverse events and infections avoided in hospitals in that time period. This translates to a 17 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions over the three-year period.

The Partnership for Patients and the Hospital Engagement Networks are one part of an overall framework established by the Affordable Care Act to deliver better care, spend dollars more wisely and improve care. Round two of the Hospital Engagement Networks will continue to work to develop learning collaboratives for hospitals and provide a wide array of initiatives and activities to improve patient safety.