News: PSIs resume ‘prepandemic trajectory of improvement,’ study shows

Hospitals and health systems have improved patient safety indicators (PSI) when compared with pre-pandemic standards, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.

The study examined the risk adjusted in-hospital mortality measures of 715 United States hospitals from 2019 to 2024.

According to the report, “[a]mong 715 hospitals and 7,802,606 million inpatient encounters, the mean case mix index increased from 1.70 in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019 to 1.79 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.”

These new findings, the authors concluded. can now serve as a “new postpandemic baseline for patient acuity” and suggest that PSIs have resumed their “prepandemic trajectory of improvement.”

Editor’s note: To read the JAMA Network Open article, click here.