A study by California officials of hospital death rates shows that for eight common conditions and procedures, the rates vary widely. The study looked at mortality rates for 2007 and 2006, and found that, in 2007, 25 hospitals had death rates that were significantly better than the state average on at least one indicator, while 94 were significantly worse in at least one area. The state plans to update the study annually and to expand the categories.
The average bill for patients that contracted an infection during their hospital care in Pennsylvania was nearly five-and-a-half times the bill for those who did not get in infection, according to a study by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. The Council's examination of hospital-acquired infections found 27,949 patients got infections during their care in 2007. That was a drop of nearly 8%, from 19.2 per 1,000 patients in 2006 to 17.7 per 1,000 patients in 2007.
Federal regulators investigating serious failings in University of California-Irvine Medical Center's anesthesiology department threatened to cut off Medicare funding after identifying dozens of new problems. In a 127-page report, regulators described repeated examples of poor oversight and inadequate systems to protect patients.
A group of Ohio business leaders and 24 hospitals has launched Solutions for Patient Safety, a program particpants hope will become a statewide effort to reduce hospital medication errors and infections. The collaborative is using $1.5 million in start-up money from the charitable arm of Cardinal Health Inc., a drug distribution company based in suburban Columbus. Solutions for Patient Safety begins as Ohio is preparing to publish hospital quality data, including some infection rates, on the Web for consumers.
Researchers say they found an "alarming" increase in children's ear, nose and throat infections nationwide caused by dangerous drug-resistant staph germs. The study found a total of 21,009 pediatric head and neck infections caused by staph germs from 2001 through 2006. The percentage caused by hard-to-treat MRSA bacteria more than doubled during that time from almost 12% to 28%.
A month after a man waited 19 hours for treatment and then died in Dallas-based Parkland Memorial Hospital's emergency department, The Joint Commission showed up there for an unannounced spot-check. Though Parkland officials refuse to discuss that visit, the accreditation group has released a list of 11 standards that it says the hospital failed to meet. One area that was found deficient—"patients have the right to pain management"—suggests that Parkland was not adequately addressing patient discomfort inside the emergency department. The group also found that the hospital was not adequately defining the timeframe for conducting initial patient assessments.