Although the advent of the RHIO as a business structure for the development of Health Information Exchanges has largely failed to do what it was intended to do, the motivation for HIE will largely be driven by CMS mandates and well as quality and safety concerns.
(HealthDay News) -- "From 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S. Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion, according to the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study
This analysis of 41 million Medicare patient records, released April 8 by HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization, found that patients treated at top-performing hospitals were, on average, 43 percent less likely to experience one or more medical errors than patients at the poorest-performing hospitals.
This analysis of 41 million Medicare patient records, released April 8 by HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization, found that patients treated at top-performing hospitals were, on average, 43 percent less likely to experience one or more medical errors than patients at the poorest-performing hospitals.
The overall medical error rate was about 3 percent for all Medicare patients, which works out to about 1.1 million patient safety incidents during the three years included in the analysis
"HealthGrades has documented in numerous studies the significant and largely unchanging gap between top-performing and poor-performing hospitals. It is imperative that hospitals recognize the benchmarks set by the Distinguished Hospitals for Patient Safety are achievable and associated with higher safety and markedly lower cost," Collier said. "
The entire article can be found at Washington Post.
Of some interest to me is no mention whether their was a difference in the use of "health information technoloogy" between the "high achievers" and the underperforming" hospitals. Does anyone have statistics on this metric?
The Fifth Annual Health Grades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study