Apples for Health- Top hospitals, 43 percent less error risk

Top hospitals, 43 percent less error risk

GOLDEN, Colo., April 13 (UPI) -- An elite group of U.S. hospitals save lives, save money and prevent medical errors at a higher rate than other hospitals, officials of a non-profit group say.

For the sixth consecutive year, HealthGrades has analyzed patient safety among U.S. Medicare patients in all of the nearly 5,000 U.S. non-federal hospitals, based on 15 indicators of patient safety developed by the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The report said 242 hospitals, which represent the top 5 percent of all U.S. hospitals, were recognized with a HealthGrades 2009 Patient Safety Excellence Award. HealthGrades developed the award to give patients more information about choosing a hospital.

"Patient safety incidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States," study co-author Dr. Rick May, senior physician consultant at HealthGrades, said in a statement. "The sad fact is that many, if not most, of these errors are preventable. Patients shouldn't die or experience unnecessary harm as a result of medical errors in hospitals."

If all hospitals performed at the level of Patient Safety Excellence Award hospitals, approximately 211,697 patient safety events and 22,771 U.S. Medicare deaths could have been avoided, while saving the United States taxpayer approximately $2 billion from 2005 through 2007, the organization said.