Your chances of experiencing a medical error vary greatly depending on the hospital you choose. In fact, patients at top-performing hospitals are 43% less likely to experience a medical error, according to the latest HealthGrades study. While all hospitals strive to prevent mistakes - things like complications from anesthesia, blood transfusion reactions, and severe infections after surgery - some do a far better job than others. Choosing the best-performing hospitals can mean the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones.
"Patient safety incidents are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The sad fact is that many, if not most, of these errors are preventable. Patients shouldn't die or experience unnecessary harm as a result of medical errors in hospitals," said Rick May, MD, Senior Physician Consultant at HealthGrades and co-author of the study. "The good news is that there are hospitals that are doing an amazing job when it comes to patient safety and we commend them. Patients need to know that they have a substantially lower risk of experiencing a medical error and therefore a lower risk of death or complications when they are admitted to one of these exceptional top-performing hospitals."
Here are some highlights from this year's study on Patient Safety in American Hospitals:
Large Safety Gaps Exist Between Top- and Bottom-Performing Hospitals
Patients treated at top-performing hospitals had, on average, a 43% lower chance of experiencing one or more medical errors compared to the poorest-performing hospitals.
Patient Safety Errors are Common at U.S. Hospitals
Between 2005 and 2007 there were 913,215 patient safety errors among Medicare beneficiaries.
Common Patient Safety Errors are Very Costly
Between 2005 and 2007 the most common patient safety errors were associated with over $6.9 billion of wasted healthcare cost.
Less Improvement Seen Among Most Common Errors
Of the fifteen most common patient safety errors, eight showed improvement while seven worsened in 2007 compared to 2005. Some of the most common and most serious errors worsened, including bed sores, severe infections after surgery, respiratory failure, blood clots in the legs, and potentially fatal blood clots in the lungs.
One in Ten Medicare Patients with Patient Safety Errors Died
Between 2005 and 2007, 97,755 inhospital deaths occurred among patients who experienced one or more of the 15 patient safety errors.
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