HealthGrades (press release)
> In-Hospital Deaths from Medical Errors at 195,000 per Year,
HealthGrades'
> Study Finds
>
>  Little Progress Seen Since 1999 IOM Report on Medical Errors
>
> HealthGrades Honors 88 Hospitals Nationwide with Distinguished
Hospital Award
> for Patient SafetyTM
>
> Patient Safety Incidents In Hospitals Account for $6 Billion per
Year in Extra
> Costs
>
> Lakewood, Colo. (July 27, 2004) ­ An average of 195,000 people in
the U.S.
> died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in
each of the
> years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a new study of 37 million
patient
> records that was released today by HealthGrades, the healthcare
quality
> company.
>
>  The HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study is the
first to
> look at the mortality and economic impact of medical errors and
injuries that
> occurred during Medicare hospital admissions nationwide from 2000 to
2002. The
> HealthGrades study applied the mortality and economic impact models
developed
> by Dr. Chunliu Zhan and Dr. Marlene R. Miller in a research study
published in
> the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in October of
2003. The
> Zhan and Miller study supported the Institute of Medicine¹s (IOM)
1999 report
> conclusion, which found that medical errors caused up to 98,000
deaths
> annually and should be considered a national epidemic.
>
>  The HealthGrades study finds nearly double the number of deaths
from medical
> errors found by the 1999 IOM report ³To Err is Human,² with an
associated cost
> of more than $6 billion per year. Whereas the IOM study extrapolated
national
> findings based on data from three states, and the Zhan and Miller
study looked
> at 7.5 million patient records from 28 states over one year,
HealthGrades
> looked at three years of Medicare data in all 50 states and D.C.
This Medicare
> population represented approximately 45 percent of all hospital
admissions
> (excluding obstetric patients) in the U.S. from 2000 to 2002.
>
>  ³The HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have
underestimated the
> number of deaths due to medical errors, and, moreover, that there is
little
> evidence that patient safety has improved in the last five years,²
said Dr.
> Samantha Collier, HealthGrades¹ vice president of medical affairs.
³The
> equivalent of 390 jumbo jets full of people are dying each year due
to likely
> preventable, in-hospital medical errors, making this one of the
leading
> killers in the U.S.²
>
>  HealthGrades examined 16 of the 20 patient-safety indicators
defined by the
> Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) ­ from bedsores to
> post-operative sepsis ­ omitting four obstetrics-related incidents
not
> represented in the Medicare data used in the study. Of these
sixteen, the
> mortality associated with two, failure to rescue and death in low
risk
> hospital admissions, accounted for the majority of deaths that were
associated
> with these patient safety incidents. These two categories of
patients were not
> evaluated in the IOM or JAMA analyses, accounting for the variation
in the
> number of annual deaths attributable to medical errors. However, the
magnitude
> of the problem is evident in all three studies.
>
>  ³If we could focus our efforts on just four key areas ­ failure to
rescue,
> bed sores, postoperative sepsis, and postoperative pulmonary
embolism ­ and
> reduce these incidents by just 20 percent, we could save 39,000
people from
> dying every year,² said Dr. Collier.
>
>  The HealthGrades study was released in conjunction with the
company¹s first
> annual Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient SafetyTM, which
honors
> hospitals with the best records of patient safety. Eighty-eight
hospitals in
> 23 states were given the award for having the nation¹s lowest
patient-safety
> incidence rates. A list of winners can be found at
> http://www.healthgrades.com.
>
>  Study Highlights
>  Among the findings in the HealthGrades Patient Safety in American
Hospitals
> study are as follows:
>     €      About 1.14 million patient-safety incidents occurred
among the 37
> million hospitalizations in the Medicare population over the years
2000-2002.
>     €      Of the total 323,993 deaths among Medicare patients in
those years
> who developed one or more patient-safety incidents, 263,864, or 81
percent, of
> these deaths were directly attributable to the incident(s).
>     €      One in every four Medicare patients who were hospitalized
from 2000
> to 2002 and experienced a patient-safety incident died.
>     €      The 16 patient-safety incidents accounted for $8.54
billion in
> excess in-patient costs to the Medicare system over the three years
studied.
> Extrapolated to the entire U.S., an extra $19 billion was spent and
more than
> 575,000 preventable deaths occurred from 2000 to 2002.
>     €      Patient-safety incidents with the highest rates per 1,000
> hospitalizations were failure to rescue, decubitus ulcer and
postoperative
> sepsis, which accounted for almost 60 percent of all patient-safety
incidents
> that occurred.
>     €      Overall, the best performing hospitals (hospitals that
had the
> lowest overall patient safety incident rates of all hospitals
studied, defined
> as the top 7.5 percent of all hospitals studied) had five fewer
deaths per
> 1000 hospitalizations compared to the bottom 10th percentile of
hospitals.
> This significant mortality difference is attributable to fewer
patient-safety
> incidents at the best performing hospitals.
>     €      Fewer patient safety incidents in the best performing
hospitals
> resulted in a lower cost of $740,337 per 1,000 hospitalizations as
compared to
> the bottom 10th percentile of hospitals.
>
>  The complete study, including the list of AHRQ patient-safety
indicators, can
> be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.
>
>  ³If the Center for Disease Control¹s annual list of leading causes
of death
> included medical errors, it would show up as number six, ahead of
diabetes,
> pneumonia, Alzheimer¹s disease and renal disease,² continued Dr.
Collier.
> ³Hospitals need to act on this, and consumers need to arm themselves
with
> enough information to make quality-oriented health care choices when
selecting
> a hospital.²
>
>  Distinguished Hospital Awards and Findings
>  In addition to its findings on patient safety, HealthGrades today
honored 88
> hospitals in 23 states with the Distinguished Hospital Award for
Patient
> Safety, the first national hospital award to focus purely on
hospital patient
> safety. The award was designed to highlight hospitals with the best
records of
> patient safety in the nation and to encourage consumers to research
their
> local hospitals before undergoing a procedure.
>
>  HealthGrades based the awards on a detailed study of patient safety
events in
> hospitals nationwide from 2000 to 2002, using the list of
patient-safety
> incidents developed by AHRQ. ³Best² hospitals were identified as the
top 7.5
> percent of the hospitals studied and had significantly different
> patient-safety incident rates and costs compared to hospitals that
were
> average or in the bottom 10th percentile. Among the ³best²
hospitals, the
> lower number of avoidable deaths and in-patient hospital costs were
directly
> related to their lower overall patient-safety incident rates.
>
>  ³If all the Medicare patients who were admitted to the bottom 10th
percentile
> of hospitals from 2000 to 2002 were instead admitted to the ³best²
hospitals,
> approximately 4,000 lives and $580 million would have been saved,²
said Dr.
> Collier.
>
>  About HealthGrades
>  Health Grades, Inc. (OTCBB: HGRD) is the leading independent
healthcare
> quality company, providing ratings, information and advisory services
to
> healthcare providers, employers, health plans and insurance
companies.
> HealthGrades works with healthcare providers to help assess, improve
and
> promote their quality. HealthGrades provides consumers access to
information
> about healthcare providers and practitioners through its Web site
and provides
> liability insurers, employers and payers with critical information
about
> healthcare quality.