Top 10 HealthLeaders News Stories of 2010

Healthcare reform, medical errors, and nursing workforce issues have dominated the headlines in 2010. We run down our most popular news stories of the year in case you missed them, or just want to have another look.

1. Top 10 Most Costly, Frequent Medical Errors
   Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, August 11, 2010
   Avoidable medical errors added $19.5 billion to the nation's healthcare bill in 2008, a claims-based study shows. Most of that amount, $17 billion, was the cost of providing inpatient, outpatient,  and prescription drug services to individuals affected by medical errors. Here are the 10 most expensive and 10 most frequent errors in healthcare settings.

2. Healthcare Reform Will Impact Long-Term Care
   MacKenzie Kimball, for HealthLeaders Media, March 23, 2010
   Early analysis of health reform legislation passed in March spotlighted the numerous provisions related to long-term care. One of the law's provisions is the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act, introduced by the late Senator Edward Kennedy. The CLASS Act makes long-term care insurance available to all Americans. Another provision — which continues to receive much attention — is the one that helps close the Medicare Part D coverage gap for medications.

3. Does Mandating Nurse-Patient Ratios Improve Care?
   Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, January 25, 2010
   As more than a dozen states consider laws to establish hospital nurse-to-patient ratios, what has been the experience in California—the first state to establish such a rule? Do patients get better care, experience fewer adverse events, and have shorter lengths of stay? And how much has the increased expense affected hospitals' bottom lines? A solid answer remains elusive.