Visalia, CA -- (SBWire) -- 12/10/2010 -- A recent report entitled “Adverse Events in Hospitals: National Incidence Among Medicare Beneficiaries” from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicates that an estimated 13.5 percent of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stays.

“That means that about one in seven Medicare beneficiaries had an adverse event during their stay,” notes Alan Weinstock, insurance broker at http://www.MedicareSupplementPlans.com.

“That equates to about 134,000 Medicare beneficiaries during the one-month study period.”

Goal and Focus of HHS Study

The goal of the HHS study was to estimate the national incidence of adverse events for hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries, assess the preventability of such events and to estimate associated costs to Medicare.

For this report the term “adverse event” described harm to a patient as a result of medical care, such as infection associated with use of a catheter, bed sores and excessive bleeding due to blood thinners. “Never events” refer to a specific list of serious events, such as surgery on the wrong patient. In this case, surgery on the wrong patient accounted for less than one percent of these events. “Temporary harm events” are those that require intervention but do not cause lasting harm.

The physician review group participated in a four-step process. They determined whether an adverse event occurred, whether it was a reportable event based on the National Quality Forum (NQF) list of Serious Reportable Events or the Medicare list of hospital-acquired conditions (HAC), the level of harm to the patient and if it was deemed preventable.

The study drew on a nationally representative sample of 780 Medicare patients discharged from hospitals in October 2008.

Overview of Outcomes from HHS Study

In addition to the 13.5 percent of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries who experienced adverse events, the HHS study found:

- An estimated 1.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced an event that contributed to their death, which projects to 15,000 patients in a single month.
- An estimated 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced events during their hospital stays that resulted in temporary harm.
- Approximately 28 percent of beneficiaries who experienced adverse events also had temporary harm events during the same stay.
- That 44 percent of adverse and temporary harm events were clearly or likely preventable.
- That 44 percent of all events were preventable and 51 percent were not preventable.

“It’s clear that although the focus is to do no harm,” suggested Weinstock, “there is a long way to go toward improvement. Greater oversight and financial incentives for hospitals to improve care and reduce errors, such as the Medicare Pilot Savings Project, a pay-for-performance, shared savings demonstration project with ten physician groups, are steps in the right direction.”

According to the Administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the goal now will be to “aggressively pursue recommendations to broaden the definition of adverse events, monitor and prevent them"

Victor Ben is an expert author and has more than 5 years of experience in writing Technical articles like Medicare Insurance, Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans, Best Medicare Plans, Blue Shield.