Hospital patient safety hasn't rebounded since the COVID-19 pandemic -- it's actually improved, according to a new report from the American Hospital Association, which includes data analyzed by Vizient.
On average, AHA estimated patients hospitalized in the first quarter of 2024 were 20% more likely to survive, given the severity of their illness, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, right before the pandemic broke out. That shakes out to around 200,000 hospitalized patients surviving stays when they wouldn't have in 2019.
These findings come after the U.S. healthcare system experienced a serious COVID-related decline in patient safety. Although the nation saw a decade of patient safety improvements leading up to the pandemic, COVID-19 stressed the industry and caused some dips in patient safety metrics.
This most recent AHA report showed that the U.S. hasn't just recovered those pandemic-related losses -- they've surpassed previous patient safety improvements.
Using Vizient data about 715 general, acute care hospitals for which the company had a complete 18 quarters of patient safety data (from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2024), the report authors found notable upswings in hospital patient safety. This is despite the fact that, following the pandemic, hospitals were treating sicker patients with greater healthcare needs.
Following the initial COVID-19 outbreak, hospitals have seen a surge in admissions. Even now, as discharges have leveled off, the average hospital discharge rate is about 2% higher now than it was in 2019. Additionally, patient acuity has increased by around 3% since 2019, the report authors added, which can further stress hospitals.
2024 AHA report states patients are 20% more likely to survive their illness, relative to its severity, than they were in 2019.
Still, hospital patient safety performance has improved.
For example, mortality risk is decreasing; as noted above, patients are 20% more likely to survive their illness, relative to its severity, than they were in 2019. Said otherwise, more people are surviving conditions that would normally be considered fatal.
Additionally, hospital-acquired infections, like central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) have both decreased. In the fourth quarter of 2019, there were just under 0.8 CLABSI per 1,000 patient encounters, compared to 0.7 per 1,000 encounters in 2024. For CAUTI, these figures were around 15 per 10,000 encounters versus 13.5 per 10,000 encounters.
It's not just infection rates that are improving in the hospital, the data furthered. Patients are also getting in for their preventive screenings, particularly cancer screenings, which are key for promoting overall well-being and safety.
Preventive cancer screenings actually rebounded quite quickly after the pandemic, the report showed. Although these types of screenings were put on pause as hospitals and health systems dealt with the initial surge of COVID-19, pushes to close care gaps and conduct patient outreach quickly paid off. By the second half of 2020, more people were getting screened for breast, cervical, and colon cancer than in the last quarter of 2019.
Hospitals and health systems have sustained those numbers since then. By the first quarter of 2024, hospitals have achieved an 83.1% breast cancer screening rate, an 82.3% colon cancer screening rate and a 61.2% cervical cancer screening rate.
According to AHA, the work of promoting patient safety is not yet finished.
"While hospitals are proud of the progress they continue to make, they also recognize that there is still work to be done," the organization stated. "Hospitals' commitment to improving patient outcomes, advancing equity of care, and enriching the patient experience continues to drive efforts."
Sara Heath has covered news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.
