Patient Safety Has Improved Over Pre-Pandemic Era

September 12, 2024

Hospital teams are providing safer care and achieving better patient outcomes than before the pandemic, even as they care for more patients with more severe and complex medical conditions.

That was the key finding of a national report released today by the American Hospital Association and Vizient.

While the pandemic disrupted significant improvements in patient safety made during the years prior, recent trends show patient safety performance has not only rebounded but has improved over 2019. The report analyzes data from the first quarter of 2024, providing a more current look at patient safety trends than public data from the federal government, which can be up to three years old.

“The data in this report underscore the resilience and unwavering commitment of hospitals and health systems—and the millions of hospital team members across the country—to delivering better care and outcomes to the patients and communities they serve,” the report notes.

Here are five key takeaways:

• More lives saved:  Patients’ risk of mortality is nearly 22 percent lower than at the end of 2019, leading to an estimated 200,000 patients surviving episodes of care between April 2023 and March 2024 that they would not have during 2019.
• Fewer infections:  Hospital teams have lowered rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections compared to the end of 2019.
• Earlier cancer care:  Screenings have increased for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer compared to the end of 2019, leading to earlier treatment and better outcomes. Health care organizations have been adopting new advances that make screening less invasive and have increased efforts to promote screening among a broader range of patients in line with expanded guidelines for who should be screened.
• More patients:  While inpatient discharges decreased since the peak months of the pandemic, they are still close to 2 percent higher than at the end of 2019.
• Higher acuity:  Patient acuity has increased 3 percent compared to the end of 2019, reflecting that hospitals are caring for patients with more severe conditions or more complicated illnesses.

The report is available online.

Pennsylvania hospitals are committed to improving patient safety and quality of care. HAP’s Patient Safety, Quality, and Equity Symposium, September 30—October 1 in Harrisburg, will bring together hospital safety, quality, and equity leaders to learn and collaborate to improve care. During the event, HAP will also recognize hospital teams that have achieved outstanding results reducing healthcare-associated infections.