Patients in the hospital for surgeries had better outcomes in 2024 than they did in 2019, according to a new report released today by the American Hospital Association and Vizient^®.

The significant improvement aligned not only with better performance on patient safety metrics — such as reductions in infections and falls — but also with marked declines in three major surgical patient safety indicators: severe bleeding, sepsis and respiratory failure.

The new findings build on a report AHA released in collaboration with Vizient last year showing that hospitals and health systems performed better on key patient safety and quality measures in the first quarter of 2024 than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, hospitals’ efforts to improve safety led to 200,000 Americans hospitalized between April 2023 and March 2024 surviving episodes of care they wouldn’t have in 2019.

“The safety and quality improvements in surgical outcomes underscore the resilience and unwavering commitment of hospitals and health systems — and the millions of hospital team members across the country — to delivering better care to the patients and communities they serve,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “While hospitals are proud of these efforts, we know there is always more work to do to deliver the highest quality care possible.”

“These results of this analysis reflect the extraordinary efforts by hospitals to adapt and elevate surgical care,” said David Levine MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Vizient. “By leveraging advanced analytics and technology-driven insights, health systems are not only addressing the increasing complexity of inpatient surgical cases but are improving outcomes in meaningful, measurable ways.”

KEY FINDINGS FROM TODAY’S REPORT

• In the first quarter of 2024, hospitalized surgical patients were nearly 20% more likely to survive than expected — based on the severity of their illnesses — compared to patients in the fourth quarter of 2019.
• This significant improvement aligned not only with better performance on patient safety metrics — such as reductions in infections and falls — but also with declines in three high-risk post-operative complications: hemorrhage (down 22.6%), sepsis (down 9.2%) and respiratory failure (down 18.9%).
• As an increasing number of surgical procedures shift to outpatient or ambulatory settings, the surgical patients who remain hospitalized tend to have greater clinical complexity and require higher acuity care. Vizient projects that this trend will continue to intensify over the next decade.
• The average length of stay for hospitalized surgical patients has increased by nearly one full day over the past five years. This rise correlates with increasing patient acuity and the concerning trend among commercial insurers to delay discharges and deny coverage for appropriate post-acute care services.