HealthGrades has named the top 10 cities in the United States with the fewest reports of patient safety incidents at hospitals.
Those named in the list are Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; Wichita, Kan.; Cleveland; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Toledo, Ohio; Boston, Mass.; Greenville, S.C.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Charlotte, N.C.; and Oklahoma City, Okla.
The list is from the annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study, which analyzed 40 million Medicare patient records from 2007 to 2009. HealthGrades used the patient safety indicators published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to identify preventable medical mistakes that occurred during patient hospitalizations.
HealthGrades found patients have a 46 percent lower chance of experiencing a patient safety incident at a top-rated hospital compared to a poorly rated hospital. The 13 patient safety events studied were associated with $7.3 billion of excess cost, which equates to an additional $181.17 per Medicare patient hospitalization, researchers found.
[Read a related story on how patient safety incidents drain billions from providers.]
Some hospitals have made rapid progress in reducing infection rates, but hospitals continue to show wide variation in their rates.
HealthGrades found that patients treated at hospitals performing in the top 5 percent in the nation for patient safety were, on average, 52 percent less likely to contract a hospital-acquired bloodstream infection or to suffer from post-surgical sepsis than those treated at poor-performing hospitals. Nearly one in six patients who acquired a bloodstream infection while in the hospital died, the study found.
"HealthGrades commends the efforts of those hospitals that are focused on providing consistent, safe and effective medical care," said Rick May, MD, HealthGrades' vice president of clinical quality services and co-author of the study. "But the fact remains that there are huge life-and-death consequences associated with where a patient chooses to seek hospital care. Until we bridge that gap, HealthGrades urges patients to research the patient safety ratings of hospitals in their community and know what steps they can take to protect themselves from error before being admitted."
HealthGrades researchers used the AHRQ's 13 patient safety indicators to identify hospitals performing in the top 5 percent in the nation. The indicators include foreign objects left in a body following a procedure, excessive bruising or bleeding as a result of surgery, bloodstream infections from catheters, and bed sores.
The full HealthGrades safety report is found here.
[See a related story on a nursing strike over patient safety.]