Hospitals score $110 million from CMS to reduce medical errors, hospital-acquired conditions
Reduction of hospital-acquired conditions in the program’s hospitals between 2010 and 2013 saved more than 50,000 lives and $12 billion in costs.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday said it has awarded more than $110 million to 17 hospital associations and health systems to support efforts in reducing patient harm tied to preventable medical errors and hospital-acquired conditions.
The grants were established by the Partnership for Patients initiative and paid from with money set aside through the Affordable Care Act.
[Also: Hospital-acquired conditions decline, but major problems still exist for providers]
According to CMS, the following associations received money: American Hospital Association; Ascension Health; Carolinas HealthCare System; Dignity Health; Healthcare Association of New York State; Health Research Education Trust of New Jersey; Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania; Iowa Healthcare Collaborative; LifePoint Health; Michigan Health and Hospital Association Health Foundation; Minnesota Hospital Association; Ohio Children's Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety; Ohio Hospital Association; Premier, Inc.; Tennessee Hospital Association; VHA-UHC Alliance NewCo, and the Washington State Hospital Association.
"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," said acting CMS administrator Patrick Conway in the announcement. "This second round of Hospital Engagement Networks will allow us to continue to improve health care safety across the nation."
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A reduction of hospital-acquired conditions in the program's hospitals between 2010 and 2013 saved more than 50,000 lives and $12 billion in costs, CMS said.
Nationally, all hospitals saw an average 17 percent decline in these errors in the same period.
In accepting the funds, the participating systems are required to conduct training programs to teach and support hospitals in making patient care safer, provide technical assistance to hospitals so that hospitals can meet quality measurement goals and set up a system to track all the program's goals.
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