AHA/HRET HEN 2.0 improves hospital care, saves nearly $300 million

Hospitals continue to improve patient care, according to results from the second round of the AHA/Health Research & Educational Trust Hospital Engagement Network, part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Partnership for Patients initiative. Among other findings, the AHA/HRET HEN helped hospitals reduce early elective deliveries by 44%, post-operative venous thromboembolisms by 34% and surgical site infections by 21% over the past year, preventing more than 34,000 incidents with an associated cost savings of nearly $300 million. “Improving care is a never-ending march toward perfection, and no number of accolades will slow that march,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “Patients have high expectations about the care hospitals provide, and getting to zero patient safety incidents is the goal of every hospital. Continued progress will be made as hospitals share what they learned through the HEN project with the rest of the field.”