Dive Brief:
- This week, Healthgrades released its annual Patient Safety Excellence Award and Outstanding Patient Experience Award lists.
- The safety award recipients were selected based on observed incidents and expected performance for 14 patient safety indicators defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). There were 466 hospitals granted the designation, making them the top 10% of all hospitals evaluated for their performance in protecting patients from preventable complications.
- The patient experience award recipients were selected based on 10 measures from HCAHPS survey data. A group of 448 hospitals were granted the award, representing the top 15% of hospitals in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
Healthgrades says the results are important because patient safety is associated with high quality care. In addition, they found consumers are more frequently using patient experience and satisfaction to evaluate and select hospitals, said Healthgrades Chief Strategy Officer Evan Marks.
The company suggests about 270,457 patient safety events could have been avoided if all hospitals, from 2012 to 2014, performed at the level of those considered "better than expected" on each of the 14 patient safety indicators evaluated.
Healthgrades also released a new infographic highlighting some of its top observations about patient safety and experience. These include:
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Almost 75% of all patient safety events reported by hospitals come from four event types: Accidental cut/puncture/hemorrhage; collapsed lung; infection; and bed sores.
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The top performing hospitals for patient safety are "always equally or more likely" than other hospitals to have better outcomes in specialty areas. They note, for example, that Healthgrades' safety award recipients are 5.1 times more likely to also receive a Specialty Excellence Award for spinal surgery; 3.4 times more likely to receive one for Orthopedics; and 2.3 times more likely to receive one for Pulmonary Care.
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The hospitals that excel in patient experience continue to track trends around patients' priorities in their overall hospital assessments.