Medical Errors Costing U.S. Billions
TUESDAY, April 8 (The Washington Post- Health Day News) — From 2004 through 2006, patient safety errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S. Medicare patients and cost the Medicare program $8.8 billion, according to the fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study.
This analysis of 41 million Medicare patient records, released April 8 by HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization, found that patients treated at top-performing hospitals were, on average, 43 percent less likely to experience one or more medical errors than patients at the poorest-performing hospitals.
The overall medical error rate was about 3 percent for all Medicare patients, which works out to about 1.1 million patient safety incidents during the three years included in the analysis.
For more on this article see: washingtonpost.com and search “Medical Errors Costing U.S. Billions.” Also read Vinkler Law page on Medical Malpractice.
Schedule Now Form with Buttons
Complimentary Case Review Available Now
![](/wp-content/themes/yootheme/cache/9b/leadersforum-9b38822b.jpeg)
![](https://www.vinklerlaw.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=kernel&p=image&src=%7B%22file%22%3A%22wp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F01%2Fleading.jpg%22%2C%22thumbnail%22%3A%22%2C%2C%22%7D&hash=f8d7bca5)
![](https://www.vinklerlaw.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=kernel&p=image&src=%7B%22file%22%3A%22wp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F01%2Famerican-board.jpg%22%2C%22thumbnail%22%3A%22%2C%2C%22%7D&hash=100a4c93)
![](https://www.vinklerlaw.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=kernel&p=image&src=%7B%22file%22%3A%22wp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F01%2Fsuper.jpg%22%2C%22thumbnail%22%3A%22%2C%2C%22%7D&hash=bf2cfb64)
![](https://www.vinklerlaw.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=kernel&p=image&src=%7B%22file%22%3A%22wp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F01%2Famerican.jpg%22%2C%22thumbnail%22%3A%22%2C%2C%22%7D&hash=ee7d63a9)