AHRQ: U.S. hospitals prevented 1.3 million adverse events since 2010

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) says that efforts to prevent adverse events are working, with 1.3 million fewer patients harmed in U.S. hospitals from 2010 to 2013, according to Modern Healthcare. In the three years since the Partnership for Patients public-private collaborative was launched, hospitals have seen a 17% reduction in adverse events and 50,000 deaths prevented.

The AHRQ statistics found growing momentum, with 98,000 fewer hospital-acquired conditions in 2011 and almost 800,000 fewer in 2013. Over the entire period, the estimated cost savings was $12 billion. Partnership for Patients originally aimed for a 40% reduction in adverse events by the end of 2013, which would have meant 1.8 million fewer events, 60,000 fewer deaths, and $35 billion in savings.

Read the Modern Healthcare story.