On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius toured Seton Medical Center Austin and talked to a group of local health officials, doctors and nurses about a n initiative she's spearheading called Partnership for Patients.

The partnership aims to use up to $1 billion in Medicare funding provided by the 2010 Affordable Care Act to reduce the number of injuries patients suffer when they are in the hospital, among other things. The initiative would focus on reducing injuries like birth trauma or new infections.

"I'm happy to shine a light on best practices as I travel across the country," Sebelius said after touring the neonatal unit and watching a birth simulation during her visit.

Sebelius aims to reduce preventable injuries in hospitals by 40 percent and cut hospital readmissions by 20 percent in the next three years. She estimates that the program could reduce the costs to Medicare by about $50 billion over the next 10 years.

Annually, the number of people who "die from harm in hospitals is more than the number of people who die annually as a result of AIDS, breast cancer and car accidents combined," she said.

Seton Medical Center was chosen for Sebelius' visit because its local hospitals have been successful in the two areas that the initiative plans to improve: keeping patients from getting injured or sicker while they are in the hospital, and improving transitions between hospitals and other care settings, said Adrienne Lallo , a spokeswoman for the Seton Family of Hospitals .

"Safety is an absolute passion at Seton," Lallo said. "We have dramatically reduced the rate of birth trauma and the incidents of hospital-occurring bedsores. The State of Texas recently gave us a quality award for being almost at zero in terms of injuries that occur during delivery."

Health care reform s last year were focused on the insurance market, Sebelius said. This year, the goal is to improve the quality of health care and the patient experience, she said.

"Everybody in America should have better health care and better costs," she said.

jsanders@statesman.com; 445-3630

Find Documents with Similar Topics Help Below are concepts discussed in this document. Select terms of interest and either modify your search or search within the current results set Industry HOSPITALS Minor Terms HEALTH CARE POLICY INTENSIVE CARE UNITS NURSES & NURSING PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS MEDICARE HEALTH CARE REFORM Subject HEALTH DEPARTMENTS WOUNDS & INJURIES BIRTH INJURIES Minor Terms INTENSIVE CARE UNITS PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION BEST PRACTICES MEDICARE BIRTHS & BIRTH RATES AIDS & HIV QUALITY CONTROL BREAST CANCER Geography TEXAS, USA UNITED STATES People KATHLEEN SEBELIUS Hide Minor Index Terms | Show Relevancy Scores |Clear Selections