National Scorecard on Rates of Hospital-Acquired Conditions 2010 to 2015: Interim Data From National Efforts to Make Health Care Safer.
Medicare nonpayment and reporting requirements have stimulated health care organizations to focus on reducing hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) such as health care–associated infections and never events. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality regularly tracks HAC rates, including rates of adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line–associated bloodstream infections, falls, obstetric adverse events, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections, ventilator-associated pneumonias, and postoperative venous thromboembolisms. According to data from the AHRQ National Scorecard, HACs have decreased by 21% between 2010 and 2015. This represents a total of 3.1 million fewer HACs contracted by hospitalized patients over 5 years, saving an estimated 125,000 lives and $28 billion. These findings represent substantial progress and support the success of incentives designed to eliminate HACs as a source of patient harm.