PRIORITIES

Fewer Hospital Mistakes Saved 50k Lives

And roughly $12 billion.

According to reports released by the Obama administration on Tuesday, an estimated 50,000 lives and roughly $12 billion in health-care spending were saved due to improved patient safety and fewer mistakes at hospitals. The reports, which span from 2011 to 2013, saw a 17 percent drop in instances of hospital-induced harm, which includes adverse reactions to drugs, infections, falls, and bedsores. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell called the findings a “historic progress on health-care quality” in a speech Tuesday, saying this was just the beginning. “No American should ever lose his or her life, or spend the holidays in the hospital because of a condition that could have been prevented,” she added. It is estimated that nearly 10 percent of hospitalized patients in America experience hospital-acquired conditions each year, while some 2 million patients suffer hospital-acquired infections such as bloodstream and urinary tract infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control.