Healthcare Quality News

It is estimated that 100,000 people die in hospitals every year because of preventable complications or hospital-acquired infections.

 HealthGrades, a hospital rating company based in Golden, CO, has released its eighth annual list of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence.  The 269 hospitals on the list have been found to have unusually low mortality and complication rates for 26 different procedures and diagnoses, Forbes reports.  The hospitals on the list:

• Had 29% lower risk-adjusted inhospital mortality.    
• Performed 9% better in inhospital complications.
• Improved at a greater rate for risk-adjusted mortality

The rankings are based on data from 40 million patients on Medicare who were hospitalized between 2006 and 2008.

Many big-name academic hospitals did not make the list this year.  Regional hospitals were heavily represented on the list.  HealthGrades estimates that if every hospital performed as well as those in the top 5%, it could potentially save 150,132 lives and prevent 13,104 complications in the Medicare population.

Additional information can be found at: Kaiser Health News, http://.kaiserhealthnews.org, January 26, 2010; Patient Safety Monitor Alert, http://hcpro.com, January 27, 2010

(SOURCES: Forbes, http://forbes.com, January 26, 2010; HealthGrades, http://HealthGrades.com, January 26, 2010)