Patient Safety & Outcomes

Sutter Health, based in Sacramento, Calif., has received a $3.6 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to advance clinical quality and has committed to match this amount with an additional $7.2 million to further its patient safety…

Hospitals that follow up within a week of discharge with patients who were hospitalized for heart failure have a lower 30-day readmission rate, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

One of every 10 adult Medicaid patients hospitalized in 2007 for any condition other than childbirth had to be readmitted within 30 days of discharge, according to a release from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Physicians at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., have found for the first time that, under certain circumstances, infants and children may be exposed to carbon monoxide during routine anesthesia resulting in a rise in the carbon monoxide levels…

The health reform law will shift from making payments of hospitals for reporting quality indicators to reducing payments to hospitals with the highest rates of medical errors and infections, according to a report by CNN Money.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists' Ambulatory Surgical Care committee issued a statement, advising anesthesiologists to consider monitoring patients for exhaled carbon dioxide in procedures using propofol, especially involving the upper GI tract.

In 2006-2008, there were nearly 1 million patient safety events among Medicare patients, costing $8.9 billion, according to a new study by healthcare ratings organization HealthGrades. The number of incidents was virtually the same as reported in last year's study.

The trend over the last five years has been a continued, dedicated effort to establishing standards and steps for improving patient safety. Major accreditation agencies have become increasingly active in establishing guidelines and are joined by hospitals and surgery centers…

Richard F. Collins, MD, is vice president for medical affairs of Jefferson Regional Medical Center, a 390-bed hospital in Pittsburgh that is participating in a new pilot project to lower readmissions, sponsored by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. Here he…

New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, Mass., is suspending new patient admissions in order to train and educate staff after state public health officials found patient care problems, including improper treatment of wounds and not properly following infection control procedures,…