Yet another study reveals the direct connection between poor quality of care and increased cost. Milliman's recent study for the Society of Actuaries found that, in 2008, avoidable medical errors added $19.5 billion to the US healthcare bill. This cost is not the full cost, because it only captures those errors that can be identified based on an analysis of health care claims.

Major findings include:

$13,000 in additional cost were incurred per error
2,500 people died from these injuries that would not have died otherwise
10 million additional days were missed from work due to these errors
7% of all inpatient admissions experienced a medical injury
Pressure ulcers were the most costly & most frequent medical injury

Memphis-area employers and employees are experiencing these errors and costs too. MBGH's work with hospitals and doctors to reduce avoidable medical errors through our Leapfrog initiative (click here to see Memphis-area hospital results); expecting health plans to contract with high performing providers through our eValue8 initiative (Click here for 2010 eValue8 report); and improving ambulatory care through the Healthy Memphis Common Table's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative all contribute to helping reduce costs due to poor quality in Memphis.

Click here to read an article summarizing these findings.