About one person in three in the United States will encounter some sort of mistake during a hospital stay, recent reports say, and 90 percent of those go unreported. Federal officials have announced the release of data that that allows consumers to to find out how often local hospital patients acquire bed sores or infections, or are harmed by bloodstream infections caused by air bubbles.
Healthwatch, The Hill’s Healthcare blog, reports that since 2008, Medicare has “banned reimbursements for care resulting from hospital acquired conditions (HAC).” But now, for the first time, Medicare beneficiaries will have access to data on eight types of HAC’s, which often are results of improper patient care.
“Injury from a fall or other trauma has been the most common HAC, occurring once for every 2,000 discharges, and and more than 70 percent of hospitals reported at least one fall over a two-year period.” the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said.
Bloomberg reported that “adverse events occurred during one-third of admissions at the hospitals, according to researchers.” Seven hundred and ninety five patient records were studied using the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Global Trigger Tool. The method the Institute uses involves reviews of patient’s charts by nurses, Dr.’s, and pharmacists.
According to the Medicare data, Utah has a higher rate of trauma than the national average, with 17 of the 31 hospitals analyzed reporting a total of 56 falls or injuries caused by trauma.
