National health officials and local hospital executives on Wednesday unrolled an Obama administration initiative to save as many as 60,000 lives by reducing medical errors and patient complications after they leave a hospital. The event at Hackensack University Medical Center was one of 11 nationwide to highlight the national Partnership for Patients, which enlists the support of hospitals, employers, health plans, doctors, nurses and patient advocates to "make the best care normal care for all patients," said Rima Cohen, counselor to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "The ultimate goal is to eliminate preventable errors," Cohen said. "To get started, we're setting two ambitious goals for the next three years: Reducing preventable injuries in hospitals by 40% and cutting preventable hospital readmissions by 20 percent." Those initiatives could save as much as $35 billion, including $10 billion for Medicare, she said, as well as save lives and reduce problems for patients.
The Veterans Administration reports that it has reduced MRSA infections by 50% in its intensive care units around the country during the first three years of a special initiative. MRSA, or methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be life threatening, especially in the ICU, and the results of the initiative, now in its fourth year, could help other hospitals design programs to cut down on the infections. "This is a landmark initiative for VA and healthcare in general," said Dr. Robert Petzel, VA's under secretary for health, in a statement. "No one should have to worry about acquiring an illness or infection from the place they trust to deliver their care. I am proud that VA is leading the way." The VA implemented four infection control practices, including patient screening, contact precautions for patients found to have MRSA and extra hand sanitizer stations and hygiene reminders. The initiative also involved changing the culture so everyone felt infection control was a personal responsibility.
Three years after Tennessee started requiring a "certificate of good faith" from medical experts that a malpractice suit has merit, Gov. Bill Haslam and legislators are proposing another tort reform, one that would cap non-economic damages and punitive awards. Critics say the legislation would further restrict people's ability to sue. The caps could have a particularly chilling effect on malpractice suits. Faced with the prospect of receiving less money from their percentage of damages, lawyers will cherry-pick for easily winnable cases, critics say, because of the cost of hiring doctors as expert witnesses. The legislation limits non-economic damages, such as pain and emotional suffering, to $750,000 and punitive awards to $500,000. However, the governor has offered exceptions for severe injuries and the deaths of parents with minor children, raising the cap to $1.25 million in these instances.
Why can't hospitals get health care workers to wash their hands? Hospitals in the United States enjoy access to running water. Virtually all of them have alcohol-rub dispensers, hundreds of them, in the hallways. Using one takes a few seconds. Yet health care workers fail to wash hands a good percentage of the times they should. Doctors are particularly bad. A health care worker's hands are the main route infections take to move from one patient to another. One recent study of several intensive care units—where the patients most vulnerable to infection reside—showed that hands were washed on only one quarter of the necessary occasions. It's not that hospitals are ignoring the problem—indeed, they are implementing all kinds of strategies to promote hand-washing. Nevertheless, it is rare to find a hospital that has been able to keep the hand-washing rate above 50 percent.
A website that reports on the quality of health care at Metro Detroit hospitals now contains information on Medicare costs for various treatments. People can go to MyCareCompare.org to review the Medicare costs for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical infection prevention and more, the nonprofit Greater Detroit Area Health Council said. The website also allows consumers to review a report to help them choose hospitals and physician organizations. It shows hospital ratings in patient satisfaction and care outcomes, including mortality rates for heart attacks and other conditions. Data from 35 hospitals in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston, Monroe and St. Clair counties is compiled from information reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, said Lisa Mason, the organization's director of cost quality.
Hospice providers that care for hundreds of Iowans in the final stages of a terminal illness are now being inspected by the state on a schedule of one visit every 20 years. Patient advocates say that sort of inspection cycle "doesn't even pass the laugh test," and puts Iowans at risk of substandard care. It's one example of how Iowa is turning a blind eye to critical elements of the state's heath care system. With few inspection records and little government oversight to rely on, the selection of medical providers has become a high-stakes gamble for patients. Patient care advocates say the lack of oversight creates enormous risks for patients. Lawmakers are loathe to impose any additional rules or standards on businesses, including those that provide medical care, even though some in the industry are open to more regulation.