New Report Shows Hospital Patient Safety Performance Improving

The AHA today released a new report showing that hospital and health system performance on key patient safety and quality measures was better in the first quarter of 2024 than it was right before the COVID-19 pandemic and that hospitals made these improvements while caring for more complex patients with more significant health care needs.

AHA Take

The data in this report underscore the resilience and unwavering commitment of hospitals and health systems — and the millions of hospital team members across the country — to deliver better care and outcomes to the patients and communities they serve. While hospitals are proud of the progress they continue to make, they also recognize that there is still work to be done.

What You Can Do

• Use the report to elevate the national conversation about how your organization, and hospitals and health systems across the country, are continuously working to advance patient safety and quality every day. Sept. 17 is World Patient Safety Day so it is an excellent opportunity to talk about your organization’s efforts in these areas.
• Use AHA’s digital toolkit to share how hospitals are making progress on key patient safety measures to advance health for patients and communities.
• Participate in AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative and take advantage of AHA’s resources for hospitals and health systems. The AHA at the end of 2023 launched the Patient Safety Initiative — a national effort to reaffirm hospital and health system leadership and commitment to patient safety. The initiative: provides hospitals with tools and data to advance patient safety; gives hospitals a platform and resources to tell their improvement stories; highlights successful local innovations that can be applicable across the country; and informs public policy discussions about the most effective policy steps to support, spread and sustain safety improvement. Visit AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative webpage for more information and resources. If your organization has not joined the Patient Safety Initiative, please consider joining more than 1,700 organizations and participating.

Further Questions

If you have further questions about the report, please contact Chris DeRienzo, M.D., AHA chief physician executive and senior vice president, at cderienzo@aha.org. If you have questions about the Patient Safety Initiative, please email patientsafety@aha.org.