Patient Safety Ranked Higher at Top Rated Hospitals

 HealthGrades released a study that found that patients have a 46% lower risk of experiencing a patient safety incident at a top-rated hospital compared to a poorly rated hospital. The annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study, which analyzed 40 million Medicare patient records, from 2007 to 2009. HealthGrades utilized the patient safety indicators published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to identify preventable medical mistakes that occurred during patients' hospitalizations.

Study findings show that, despite encouraging research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing reductions in hospital acquired bloodstream infections in certain patients, progress is inconsistent. Some hospitals have made rapid progress in reducing infection rates, but hospitals continue to show wide variation in their rates. For example, HealthGrades found that patients treated at those hospitals performing in the top 5% in the nation for patient safety were, on average, 52% less likely to contract a hospital-acquired bloodstream infection or to suffer from post-surgical sepsis than those treated at poor-performing hospitals. Nearly one in six patients who acquired a bloodstream infection while in the hospital died, the study found.

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