April 12,2011

Baucus Applauds New Patient Safety Initiative

MEMORANDUM

To: Reporters and Editors
From: Scott Mulhauser and Erin Shields for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
Re: Baucus Applauds New Patient Safety Initiative

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) applauded a new Patient Safety Initiative announced today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  As a chief architect of the Affordable Care Act, Baucus fought to pass into law many of the patient-safety measures in the initiative.  From Chairman Baucus:

“This initiative implements the strongest patient protections in the history of our health care system, making health care safer and better for patients while saving taxpayer dollars.  We fought to pass these protections in health reform to save lives and save money by empowering hospitals to improve patients’ care and holding providers accountable for care without complications.  The measures in this initiative will help health care providers better coordinate and communicate, so they can work together to determine the best treatment for each patient and reduce preventable complications, illnesses and deaths.”

The reforms in the Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs initiative will help achieve two shared goals:

  • Keep hospital patients from getting injured or more sick. By the end of 2013, preventable hospital-acquired conditions would decrease by 40-percent compared to 2010.  Achieving this goal would mean approximately 1.8 million fewer injuries to patients, with more than 60,000 lives saved over the next three years. 
  • Help patients heal without complication. By the end of 2013, preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another would be decreased so that all hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20-percent compared to 2010.  Achieving this goal would mean more than 1.6 million patients will recover from illness without suffering a preventable complication requiring re-hospitalization within 30 days of discharge.

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