The Hill reported in its “Healthwatch” blog, “More than 2,000 hospitals have signed onto a public-private effort to reduce hospital-acquired conditions, federal officials said Friday, meeting the Obama administration’s goal.” Notably, HHS “launched the Partnership for Patients in April, touting it as a way to save 60,000 lives and $35 billion over three years by reducing medical errors by 40 percent.” The initiative “aims to encourage collaboration between hospitals, medical professionals, insurers, employers and patients so that best practices can be learned and shared.” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius commented, “This level of participation, this early, is evidence of the strong support across the country for strengthening American healthcare for future generations by improving it; not cutting it as some have proposed to do.”
CQ reported that when the initiative “was launched, it already had the backing of 500 hospitals, physicians and nurses groups, consumer organizations and employers, HHS officials said. But it is not an easy decision for a hospital to take part.” Since participation is “voluntary, the project requires time and resources from hospital CEOs and staff members at a time when they’re also working to comply with the health care law.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
