Hospital-acquired conditions declined by 13 percent between 2014 and 2017, preventing an estimated 20,500 deaths and $7.7 billion in health care costs, according to preliminary data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. HACs decreased by an estimated 910,000 over the period, including a 37 percent decline in C. difficile infections and 28 percent decline in adverse drug events, showing that patient safety initiatives such as the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks are working to make health care safer, the agency said. AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust leads the nation’s largest HIIN. 
 

Related News Articles

Headline
AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack explains how hospitals have made meaningful progress in patient safety and delivering high-quality care, in a column…
Headline
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response June 25 announced it conducted an exercise transporting simulated patients with high-consequence…
Headline
Ochsner Health's Stephen Saenz, sepsis program manager, and Teresa Arrington, director of robust process improvement for quality and patient safety, reveal how…
Headline
The AHA May 12 responded to the Office of Management and Budget's April 11 request for information on regulatory relief, making 100 suggestions to the Trump…
Headline
The U.S. has had 935 confirmed cases of measles so far this year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases have…
Headline
There have been 8,064 reported cases of whooping cough in the U.S. so far this year, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and…