Dive Brief:
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded $110 million in ACA funding grants designed to improve patient safety.
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The 17 grants to health systems and various hospital associations are designed to press efforts to reduce hospital-acquired conditions.
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The Department of Health and Human Services estimates efforts to reduce hospital-acquired conditions saved 50,000 lives and saved $12 billion in healthcare costs from 2010 to 2013.
Dive Insight:
The money will be used for training programs, technical assistance and to pay for monitoring quality improvement goals, CMS says. If it draws anywhere near the saving of lives and money that previous efforts have provided, it's going to be money very well-spent.
"We have made significant progress in keeping patients safe and we are focused on accelerating improvement efforts through collaboration and reliable implementation of best practices," Dr. Patrick Conway, CMS acting principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer, said in a news release. "This second round of Hospital Engagement Networks will allow us to continue to improve healthcare safety across the nation."