The American Hospital Association (AHA) announced in a September 12 press release the release of its new report, Hospitals Improving Performance On Key Patient Safety Measures Surpassing Pre-Pandemic Levels. AHA found that hospitals and health systems' performance on key patient safety and quality measures was better in the first quarter of 2024 than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data analyses by Vizient, a group purchasing organization, show that health systems rebounded and improved after the COVID-19 pandemic when progress in safety measures had been disrupted.
A key takeaway from the report indicated that hospitals cared for more patients in the first quarter of 2024 than in the last quarter of 2019, providing care to a more complex patient population.
“Despite being sicker and more complex, hospitalized patients in the first quarter of 2024 were on average over 20 percent more likely to survive than expected, given the severity of their illnesses compared to the fourth quarter of 2019,” the report stated.
Additionally, “hospitals’ efforts to improve safety led to 200,000 Americans hospitalized between April 2023 and March 2024 surviving episodes of care they wouldn’t have in 2019.” Ongoing improvements regarding preventative health have led to a 60-80 percent increase in breast, colon, and cervical cancer screenings.
Vizient provided risk-adjusted data analysis from 715 acute care hospitals across 49 states and the District of Columbia.
