Report: Hospital errors harm 14 percent of Medicare patients

A federal report shows more than 14 percent of Medicare patients who enter the hospital are harmed by errors or oversights before they leave.

Of the nearly 1 million Medicare beneficiaries discharged from hospitals in October 2008, about one in seven experienced at least one of the federal government's criteria for an adverse event, according to a report released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General.

Researchers said the report was based on a sample of 780 Medicare beneficiaries discharged during October 2008. Physician reviewers determined whether each case was an adverse event, how serious it was, whether it was preventable and the level of harm done to the patient.

An estimated 1.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced an event that contributed to their deaths, which projects to 15,000 patients in a single month, the study found.

Additionally, 28 percent of beneficiaries who experienced an adverse event also experienced a lesser harm –  known as "temporary harm" – during the same stay, the study showed.

According to the OIG, physician reviewers determined that 44 percent of adverse and temporary harm events were clearly or likely preventable. Preventable events were linked most commonly to medical errors, substandard care or lack of patient monitoring and assessment, researchers said.

Hospital care associated with adverse and temporary harm events cost Medicare an estimated $324 million in October 2008, according to the study. Sixteen percent of sample beneficiaries in the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System who experienced events incurred additional Medicare costs as a result. The added costs equate to an estimated 3.5 percent of Medicare's expenditure for inpatient care during October 2008, the study showed.

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Donald Berwick, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, acknowledged the gravity of the report and said reducing medical errors is a top priority for the agency. Funding from the Affordable Care Act will make it easier for CMS to pilot innovative ways to prevent medical errors, he said.

The new law will also help CMS to create reward and incentive programs to encourage hospitals to reduce medical errors, he added.

Read the entire report here.