Improving patient outcomes in healthcare organizations starts with ensuring a system for best practices falls prevention. The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality estimates that approximately 700,000 to 1,000,000 people fall in hospitals in the United States every year, which equates to fall rates ranging from 2.3 - 7 falls per 1,000 patient days. Impact of Falls in Healthcare
In fact, in 2017, the Joint Commission reported serious injuries or death associated with inpatient falls as the second highest sentinel event in healthcare organizations.
Of those, 30-40% result in injuries that can result in an average of 6.3 additional hospital days to a patient’s hospital stay and an average cost of $14,000 to diagnose and treat those injuries.
A program that aims to prevent patient falls can drastically decrease the overall number of patient falls in your healthcare organization. In fact, it is not uncommon to see a 25-50% reduction in falls after implementing a falls program.
Falls prevention is also cost avoidance. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services no longer reimburses hospitals for additional costs associated with inpatient falls as part of their value-based payment initiative. That means it's more important than ever to focus on falls prevention, not only from the mindset of encouraging patient safety, but also from a financial perspective. Many organizations have seen significant reductions in patient falls by implementing technology for patient safety.
If your organization is looking to implement a new falls prevention program or ensure that your existing one is as effective and efficient as possible:
Download our step-by-step guide to learn what an effective falls prevention program looks like and how to implement it into your healthcare organization: