The Number of American Deaths Due to Hospital Acquired Conditions

Since 2010, many improvements have been made to protect the safety of patients during their stay in hospitals. This has not only saved the healthcare industry billions of dollars but, more importantly, has saved the lives of over 50,000 people.

2015 Started Out With 89 New ACOs Joining the Medicare Shared Savings Program

89 new ACOs joined the Medicare Shared Savings Program starting January 2015, increasing the total participating ACOs to 424; including the Innovation Center’s 19 Pioneer ACOs. The 89 new Shared Services ACOs added 23,000 additional physicians and other providers to the Medicare Shared Savings Program’s provider network. The Share Services ACOs combined with the Innovation Center’s 19 Pioneer ACOs will serve over 7.8 million beneficiaries.

Covered Lives Under ACOs as well as the Number of ACOs is Growing

The number of ACOs rose from Q4 2010 to Q4 2013 from 41 to 606. During that time frame, the number of ACOs’ covered lives grew from 0.2 million to 18.1 million. Will the numbers continue to increase?

Lower Mortality Rates in Elderly Readmitted to Hospital Where Surgery was Performed Rather than Alternate Hospital

From January 2009-November 2011, 93,062 Medicare patients were re-hospitalized for complications due to major surgeries common in elderly patients. One in four of these Medicare beneficiaries were readmitted to a different hospital than the one where surgery was performed. The rate of mortality was 41% higher for these patients than those readmitted to the hospital where surgery was originally performed. Clinical integrating may improve outcomes for older US patients undergoing complex surgery.

Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Program to Give Incentive Payment Boost to 37% More Hospitals in 2015 Than 2014

in 2015, 463 more hospitals will be seeing a Medicare value-based purchasing program payment boost than 2014.