Charted: How Medicare patients are harmed during hospital stays

Despite efforts to improve patient safety over the last decade, a quarter of Medicare patients continue to experience harm and complications during hospital stays, according to a new report from HHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG).

Cheat sheet: Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program

Report details and key findings

For the report, researchers reviewed a sample of 770 Medicare patients, out of approximately 1 million, who received inpatient care at 629 hospitals nationwide in October 2018. Overall, 25% experienced either an adverse or temporary harm event during their hospital stay.

In total, 12% of patients experienced adverse harm events, which resulted in longer hospital stays, lifesaving interventions, permanent harm, or death. Of these events, 74%...