Healthcare Town Hall

By jeremy.engdahl-johnson

A new paper in Health Affairs is drawing attention back to a study we have blogged about before: The cost of medical errors. Bloomberg has the story:

Medical errors that caused harm to patients cost the U.S. $17.1 billion in 2008, according a review by the Seattle consulting firm Milliman Inc. of medical claims from 2001 through 2008 that also was published in the current issue of Health Affairs. Jill Van Den Bos, a Milliman health-care consultant, is the lead author.

The study identified about 564,000 injuries to patients admitted to U.S. hospitals and 1.8 million injuries to people using outpatient services. The most common and most expensive injuries were pressure sores and infections following surgery, Van Den Bos and her colleagues conclude.

The full Bloomberg article includes coverage of this and one other patient safety study in the latest issue of Health Affairs.

And here is the National Journal’s coverage.

And here is coverage from MedPage Today.

Quality of Care Health Affairs, Jill Van Den Bos, medical errors