Physician burnout has been associated with higher rates of self-reported medical errors and increased costs related to physician turnover. This analysis linked survey data from family physicians to Medicare claims to explore any association of burnout with four objective measures of care outcomes (ambulatory care-sensitive admissions, ambulatory care-sensitive emergency department visits, readmissions, or costs). There was no consistent, statistically significant relationship between burnout and the four measures of care outcomes and further research on this relationship is warranted.

Hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) are thought to be preventable, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reduce payments to hospitals with the highest rates of these conditions through its Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HACRP). This study evaluated surgical HACs at three timepoints: before Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, after ACA implementation, and after HACRP. While the number of HACs continued to decline after implementation of HACRP, it did not affect 30-day mortality.

Since 2013, Medicare’s Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HACRP) has reduced payments to hospitals with elevated rates of specific outcomes deemed to be preventable sources of harm. To better understand the impact of the HACRP in Michigan, this study used a surgical registry to compare trends in rates of outcomes targeted by the program to concurrent trends for other hospital-acquired conditions, such as postoperative cardiac arrest and postoperative pneumonia. The authors saw an overall decrease in all hospital-acquired conditions over the eight-year study period but did not identify a statistically significant change in the rate of HACRP-targeted versus non-targeted conditions. The authors acknowledge that these findings may not be generalizable nationally because of robust quality improvement efforts already in place in Michigan, such as existence of other quality improvement efforts, such as the AHRQ-recognized Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative and the Hospital Engagement Network

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services impose financial penalties on hospitals whose Medicare patients experience higher rates of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) like urinary tract infections and pneumonia. Hospitals caring for more patients with low socioeconomic status receive more penalties under this program than hospitals caring for wealthier populations. Investigators attempted to assess whether hospitals penalized under the program reduced HAC rates. They found that penalized hospitals did not have lower HAC rates or improve other measures of clinical quality. This finding raises questions about whether financial penalties effectively enhance patient safety. By contrast, quality improvement collaboratives like Partnership for Patients have markedly reduced HACs. A PSNet interview with former AHRQ director Andrew Bindman explored strategies for reducing health care–acquired harm in the hospital and ambulatory settings.

Duty hour reform was enacted to improve patient safety, but its effect remains unclear. This study found no difference in surgical complication rates before and after implementation of 2011 duty hour reforms, using nonteaching hospitals as a reference population. These results add to the literature suggesting that duty hours had no substantial impact on patient outcomes.

This large study used 9 years of national fee-for-service Medicare data to examine differences in surgical outcomes between hospitals participating in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) and nonparticipating hospitals. There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of improvement for any of the measured outcomes—risk-adjusted 30-day mortality, serious complications, reoperation, or 30-day readmissions—at 1, 2, or 3 years after enrollment in NSQIP versus well-matched controls. Notably, over 6 years there has been a trend toward reductions in mortality, serious complications, and readmissions across hospitals, regardless of NSQIP participation. The results of this study strengthen those of the study by Etzioni and colleagues in the same issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Donald Berwick states, "it is implausible to conclude that knowing results is not useful—perhaps essential—for systematic improvement of outcomes," but that hospitals must realize measurement alone is insufficient.

This analysis of paid malpractice claims from the National Practitioner Data Bank found that the vast majority of claims were settled without a trial. The small number that did go to trial disproportionately involved physicians with prior malpractice claims.

A large proportion of patients receiving home health care services were prescribed at least one potentially inappropriate medication. The spectrum of patient safety problems in home care was reviewed in a recent article.

… can make a significant difference. A past AHRQ WebM&M commentary discussed the impact of delayed notification for …

… in the ambulatory setting. A past AHRQ WebM&M conversation and perspective discuss the intersection …