An estimated 87,000 fewer patients died between 2010 from 2014 because of a marked reduction in infections and other conditions that can be acquired during hospital stays, according to an Obama administration report Tuesday that said the decrease saved $20 billion in health costs.
The Health and Human Services Department calculates that hospital patients experienced 2.1 million fewer hospital-acquired conditions during the four-year period, a 17 percent decline, in part because of Obamacare-derived incentives that tied Medicare payments to qualify of care.
“Patients in America’s hospitals are safer today as a result of this partnership with hospitals and health care providers,” HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said. “The Affordable Care Act has given us tools to build a better health care system that protects patients, improves quality, and makes the most of our health care dollars.”
Hospital-acquired conditions include things such as infections from surgery or blood transfusions, bedsores and urinary tract infections from catheters.
The data released Tuesday builds on HHS’s last update in December 2014, when it said reforms had results in 50,000 fewer deaths and $12 billion in savings from 2010 to 2013.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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