Medical Errors—195,000 Lives Lost Each Year

The HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals study¹ examined Medicare hospital admissions nationwide, and extrapolated the findings to show the impact of medical errors across all hospital admissions. Among the study's conclusions were the following deplorable facts:

• 1.14 Million Incidents
  1.14 million patient-safety incidents occurred among the 37 million Medicare hospitalizations from 2000-2002.
  
  
• 1 in 4 Died
  1 in 4 patients that experienced a patient-safety incident died.
  
  
• 3% of Medicare's Hospital Budget
  Medicare patient-safety incidents accounted for $2.85 billion annually in excess patient costs - nearly 3% of Medicare's hospital inpatient budget.
  
  
• 575,000 Preventable Deaths–$19 Billion in Excess Costs
  Extrapolated to the entire U.S., more than 575,000 preventable deaths occurred from 2000 to 2002, at a cost of $19 billion in excess medical expenses.
  
  
• Sixth Leading Cause of Death
  If the Centers for Disease Control counted hospital errors as a cause of death, they would rank sixth, ahead of Diabetes, Influenza, Pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Double the Number of Deaths Reported by IOM
HealthGrades' estimate of 195,000 medical error deaths a year is nearly double the number found by the Institute of Medicine in its landmark 2000 report "To Err is Human." That report found medical errors accounted for as many as 98,000 deaths a year at a cost of up to $29 billion. The IOM report was based on data from three states - the HealthGrades study was based on data from all 50 states. HealthGrades' Dr. Samantha Collier concluded, "the HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have underestimated the number of deaths due to medical errors, and, moreover, that there is little evidence that patient safety has improved in the last five years."²

Sources:

1. "HealthGrades Quality Study - Patient Safety in American Hospitals," HealthGrades, July 2004
2. Quoted from HealthGrades' Press Release, "In-Hospital Deaths from Medical Errors at 195,000 per Year, HealthGrades' Study Finds," HealthGrades, July 27, 2004, http://www.healthgrades.com (viewed on July 29, 2004)
   

Posted August 2004