Report critical of U.S. efforts to reduce preventable deaths

A decade after the Institute of Medicine determined that as many as 98,000 Americans were dying needlessly every year, a new report from Advocacy group Consumers Union concludes that little progress has been made (Source: “Report gives U.S. failing grade on reducing preventable deaths,” (registration required), Modern Health Care, May 20, 2009).

The report, titled “To Err is Human—To Delay is Deadly,” (pdf, 13 pages) gives the country a failing grade on adhering to the recommendations laid out by the IOM in 1999. In fact, the report surmises that preventable medical harm still accounts for at least 100,000 deaths every year, or 1 million in the 10 years since the IOM made its recommendations.

And “(t)his statistic by all logic is conservative,” according to the report. “For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that hospital-acquired infections alone kill 99,000 people each year. This needless death is unacceptable, and we must demand action from our health-care system.”