Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Tuesday, December 16, 1997 | CMS Office of Public Affairs 202-690-6145 |
For questions about Medicare please call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov. |
|
MEDICARE FINDS FASTER PNEUMONIA TREATMENT MAY SAVE LIVES
A new Medicare study shows that death rates are 15 percent lower when patients receive antibiotics within eight hours of hospital arrival for pneumonia.
The finding, by a Medicare Peer Review Organization , or PRO, is published in the December 17 Journal of the American Medical Association.
"This large national study suggests a link between early antibiotics and saved lives." said Thomas Meehan, M.D., principal investigator of the study. It analyzed records of 14,069 Medicare patients hospitalized with pneumonia in 3,555 acute care hospitals across the United States. "Shortening the time to administer a first dose of antibiotics may prevent unnecessary deaths from pneumonia."
Yet, the study found, one in four Medicare patients hospitalized with pneumonia are not receiving these drugs within eight hours. About 10 percent of the 600,000 Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with pneumonia each year die during their hospitalization.
"This study shows doctors and hospitals where they can improve care provided to Medicare beneficiaries and other patients," said Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, which runs Medicare.
The study also found wide variation across the country in how quickly antibiotics are administered. Hospitals in some upper Midwestern states tend to give antibiotics within the first eight hours as much as 90 percent of the time. Hospitals in some mid-Atlantic states tend not to give antibiotics within 8 hours as much as 50 percent of the time.
"The wide regional variation found in this study shows areas where improvement is needed," said Meehan.
Medicare funded the study as part of the Medicare Quality Indicator System, a program that collects and analyzes data on medical conditions common in the elderly, and shares results with Medicare's PROs. The PROs use the information to help providers improve care.
The study specifically examined four processes of care:
- time from hospital arrival to first dose of antibiotics;
- blood culture collection to test for bloodstream infection before initial antibiotics;
- blood culture collection within 24 hours of hospital arrival; and
- blood oxygen level testing within 24 hours of hospital arrival.
Results revealed that 76 percent of patients received their first dose of antibiotics within 8 hours of hospital arrival, and that 69 percent of patients were tested for bloodstream infections within 24 hours of hospital arrival. The study found that blood culture collection within 24 hours is associated with a 10 percent lower chance of death within 30 days.
Many state-based PROs are already using these data in helping providers improve pneumonia care by administering antibiotics earlier.
"We are closely following these efforts, and will continue to support this and similar endeavors to explore Medicare data for ways to improve care and save lives," said DeParle. "Medicare beneficiaries also should talk to their doctors about getting pneumonia and influenza vaccinations, which we pay for in full and which can prevent the need for hospitalization in the first place."
