Quality & Patient Safety

2015 was the year of the health care security breach. Nearly 100 million electronic health records were compromised, according to a December 2015 IBM Security report, blowing away the number of data breaches that occurred in the computer services and financial sectors.
Infant mortality hits record low The U.S. mortality rate fell 2.3% in 2014, to a record low 582.1 deaths per 100,000 live births. The drop was led by a 13.5% decline in deaths from respiratory illness.
This year’s winner of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the health care category, Charleston (W.Va.) Area Medical Center Health System is the largest nongovernmental employer in its region, and is an important regional…
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. These two programs (including state funding) represent 37 cents of every dollar spent on health care in the United States. There are more than 54 million Medicare beneficiaries and 64 million Americans on Medicaid. As one of the…
Trustee Talking Points Trustee Talking Points Sepsis is a leading cause of death and the most expensive condition treated in hospitals. Nearly half of patients who die in the hospital have sepsis. Many hospitals have given sepsis control less attention than other types of patient harm.…
Hospitals are making “substantial progress in improving safety,” according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report that found a 17 percent decline in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014. That saved 87,000 lives and nearly $20 billion in health costs. HACs include adverse…
The number of new cases of diabetes diagnosed in the United States declined significantly from 2009 to 2014 after steadily rising for 25 years, according to data released in December by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The country recorded 1.4 million new cases in 2014, down from 1.7…
The American Hospital Association last month awarded its 2015 Shirley Ann Munroe Leadership Award to Vince Oliver, CEO and superintendent of Island Hospital in Anacortes, Wash. The award honors small or rural hospital leaders who have improved health care delivery in their communities through…
Misprescribed in Pediatrics 50%: An estimated half of antibiotic prescriptions given during pediatric office visits are inappropriate. Source: Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, Aug. 20, 2015  
• Patient experience is growing in importance as a performance measure for hospitals, especially as patients become more savvy health care consumers. • Medicare holds back part of its reimbursement, and doesn’t pay it back until the end of a payment period, based partly on HCAHPS…