Patient Safety

An estimated 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year from medical errors, making patient safety one of the nation’s most pressing health care challenges.

• There are 40,000 incidents of harm in U.S. hospitals every day. 
• Medical errors in American hospitals cause up to 98,000 deaths and more than one million injuries each year. 
• In the Medicare population alone, one in seven beneficiaries is harmed during the course of care, costing tax payers an estimated $4.4 billion a year.  
• Of Medicare patients discharged from the hospital, nearly one in five is readmitted within 30 days accounting for about 2.6 million seniors at a cost of over $26 billion every year. 
• Each year 100,000 patients in hospitals and nursing homes in this country die from infection they acquired after being in a health care facility.
• In nursing homes, infections contribute to 380,000 deaths per year, with costs reaching $2 billion.

Mountain-Pacific works with nursing homes and hospitals to address areas of patient harm for which there is evidence that safety can be improved by improving health care processes and systems.

Drug safety
Every year, 4.5 million patients are rushed to the emergency room due to medication side effects or errors. About 1.9 million of them are admitted into the hospital, and as many as 100,000 die. Adverse drug events (ADEs) are very common and hugely preventable. Patients 65 and older are two to three times more likely to experience ADEs when compared to younger patients. Mountain-Pacific is working to collaborate with pharmacists, clinicians, patients and patient advocates to improve health and safety by reducing the number of ADEs that occur every year.

Do you have trouble keeping track of all your medicines? Print out My Medicine List. This chart can help you, your family and your health care providers organize everything you take to keep you healthy!