AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Shawn Kepner, MS, Patent Safety Authority
Shawn Kepner (shawkepner@pa.gov) is a data scientist at the Patient Safety Authority.
Abstract
Introduction
In the article published on April 22, 2024, on patient safety trends in 2023,1 reporting rates for 2023 were calculated based on Q1 and Q2 only, as denominator data for Q3 and Q4 were not yet available. This brief update provides the final rates for 2023 using all quarters of data, contrasting them with rates based on Q1 and Q2 only.
Methods
This analysis was performed using data extracted from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS)[1] on July 16, 2024, and data obtained from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4)[2] on July 1, 2024. Rates are calculated as the number of reports of events occurring in a given time frame per 1,000 patient days for hospitals and per 1,000 surgical encounters for ambulatory surgical facilities (ASFs). Since rates are based on the event occurrence date, and not submission date, some rates in this brief update are slightly different than previously published rates. This is due to reports for events that occurred in prior periods being submitted after the original data extraction dates.
Results
Figure 1 shows rates by year from 2014 through 2023. With the addition of Q3 and Q4 data, the final hospital rate for 2023 increased by 0.8 points from the rate using only Q1 and Q2. The 2023 hospital rate of 30.9 represents the first increase since 2019. For ASFs, the final rate for 2023 increased by 0.4 points from the rate using only Q1 and Q2. The 2023 ASF rate continued its consistent climb to 10.3. The bar charts in Figure 1 show rates for each of the four quarters of 2023 for hospitals and ASFs.
