AHRQ analysis: Hospital-acquired conditions down 17%

Efforts to improve patient safety have paid off. Between 2010 and 2013, hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) declined by 17 percent, according to a data synthesis from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The decline translates to 1.3 million fewer incidents of patient harm, approximately 50,000 fewer patient deaths in hospitals and $12 billion in health care cost savings. Gains were particularly strong in 2013 when 800,000 fewer patients experienced harms, 35,000 fewer patients died and $8 billion in unnecessary costs was saved compared with 2010.

HACs include adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central-line associated bloodstream infections, pressure ulcers and surgical site infections, and several other types of adverse events.

The agency couldn’t pinpoint specific reasons for the decline but noted it coincided with concerted efforts among hospitals across the country to reduce adverse events. Efforts were spurred by the Affordable Care Act, which created Medicare payment incentives to improve the quality of care and by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Partnership for Patients initiative. Many hospitals have used tools and resources developed by AHRQ – including the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, the Re-Engineered Discharge Toolkit and TeamSTEPPS® – to improve care.

The report noted, however, that the 2013 HAC rate of 121 HACs per 1,000 discharges means that almost 10 percent of hospitalized patients experienced one or more of the measured HACs. “That rate is still too high,” read the report.

However, the report added that “these latest data indicate that it is possible to make substantial progress in reducing virtually all types of HACs simultaneously.”