WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is investing $1 billion in the Partnership for Patients, which is a national initiative aimed at stopping preventable injuries and complications in patient care over the next three years.
“Americans go the hospital to get well, but millions of patients are injured because of preventable complications and accidents,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Working closely with hospitals, doctors, nurses, patients, families and employers, we will support efforts to help keep patients safe, improve care, and reduce costs. Working together, we can help eliminate preventable harm to patients.”
The new program has the potential to save up to $35 billion in healthcare costs, including up to $10 billion for Medicare, HHS said in a news release. Over the next 10 years, HHS said the Partnership for Patients could reduce costs to Medicare by about $50 billion and result in billions more in Medicaid savings.
More than 500 hospitals, as well as physicians and nurses groups, consumer groups, and employers have pledged their commitment to the new initiative.
To launch this initiative, HHS announced it would invest up to $1 billion in federal funding, made available under the Affordable Care Act. Today, $500 million of that funding was made available through the Community-based Care Transitions Program. Up to $500 million more will be dedicated from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center to support new demonstrations related to reducing hospital-acquired conditions.
The funding will be invested in reforms that help achieve two shared goals: Keep hospital patients from getting injured or sicker and Help patients heal without complication.
“By the end of 2013, preventable hospital-acquired conditions would decrease by 40-percent compared to 2010,” according to the HHS news release. “Achieving this goal would mean approximately 1.8 million fewer injuries to patients, with more than 60,000 lives saved over the next three years.”
HHS also said that by the end of 2013 preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another would be decreased so that all hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20-percent compared to 2010. Achieving this goal would mean more than 1.6 million patients will recover from illness without suffering a preventable complication requiring re-hospitalization within 30 days of discharge, according to HHS.
The Partnership will target all forms of harm to patients but will start by asking hospitals to focus on nine types of medical errors and complications where the potential for dramatic reductions in harm rates has been demonstrated by pioneering hospitals and systems across the country. Examples include preventing adverse drug reactions, pressure ulcers, childbirth complications and surgical site infections.
The CMS Innovation Center will help hospitals adapt effective, evidence-based care improvements to target preventable patient injuries on a local level, developing innovative approaches to spreading and sharing strategies among public and private partners in all states. Members of the partnership will identify specific steps they will take to reduce preventable injuries and complications in patient care.
“With new tools provided by the Affordable Care Act, we can aggressively implement programs that will help hospitals reduce preventable errors,” said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD. “We will provide hospitals with incentives to improve the quality of health care, and provide real assistance to medical professionals and hospitals to support their efforts to reduce harm.”
