From a recent interview with Quint Studer:

Better hand washing is one of the most effective ways to prevent the 2
million hospital-acquired infections that occur each year. However,
research shows that caregivers only follow proper hand hygiene
protocols about 40% of the time. If improved hand washing eliminated
just 10% of these infections we would save 10,000 lives and $3 billion
each year.

By hardwiring hourly rounding hospitals can prevent more than 250,000
falls and save more than $2 billion each year. Hourly rounding can
also help prevent more than 350,000 pressure ulcers each year, which
result in thousands of needless deaths, increased costs and lawsuits.

Decreasing employee turnover below 12% will decrease length-of-stay in
hospitals by 1.2 days and lower mortality rates, resulting in lower
costs and lives saved.

See the rest of his interview on MSNBC's morning show:
http://www.studergroup.com/videos/quint_morning_joe.dot