Minnesota hospitals report improved safety efforts despite a rise in medical mistakes.
Patient safety is getting better in Minnesota hospitals, even as more problems are being reported. That’s what the Minnesota Department of Health has said, pointing to updated numbers that show a rise in hospital mistakes, but not a steep one. While the increase is there, officials say it’s slower than before and might reflect how hospitals are now working harder to catch problems that used to go unnoticed.
Adverse health events are what the state calls things like medication mistakes, falls, infections, and surgery problems. These are the kinds of issues that aren’t supposed to happen during a hospital stay but do. In 2024, the number of these events reached 624 across Minnesota hospitals and surgery centers. That’s more than any other year on record, but officials say it’s not all bad news. Some mistakes, like medication errors, actually went down by a big margin—dropping 44 percent compared to the year before.
Part of the reason the total number is still going up has to do with timing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people put off doctor visits, tests, and surgeries. That meant fewer chances for problems simply because fewer people were in hospitals. Now that things have settled and more patients are returning for care, the risks are climbing again. But today’s patients aren’t just bouncing back from the virus. Many are older, sicker, and staying in hospitals longer. That increases the chances of something going wrong.
Health department officials say the state’s population is aging, and that’s showing up in hospital data. Older patients are more likely to have many health problems at once. Someone might come in for surgery and also have diabetes, heart issues, or another serious condition. Treating those cases is more complex, and complications are more likely. Longer stays also mean more time for possible mistakes.
Even though the numbers are going up, state health leaders say these problems can be prevented. Every case is reviewed and tracked closely, and hospitals are expected to find patterns and make changes. If one facility has more cases of a certain kind of mistake, officials want to know why and what’s being done about it.
The health department uses this data to help hospitals fix what’s not working with patient safety. That could mean more training, new safety checks, or changes in how care is delivered. There’s also more pressure on hospitals to be open when something goes wrong. Patients and families are demanding answers. They want to know what happened, why it happened, and what’s being done to stop it from happening again.
Hospitals aren’t just being watched by the health department. Insurance companies and the public are also paying attention. Bad results can hurt a hospital’s reputation or even lead to fewer patients choosing that facility. So there’s a strong reason for hospital leaders to take these numbers seriously and keep working on safety.
The state gathers information from about six million hospital days each year. That’s a huge amount of care being delivered, and the number of errors is still small compared to that total. But every mistake matters. For the person it happens to, it’s not just a number—it can be life-changing.
So while the total count of adverse events keeps ticking upward, Minnesota health leaders say they’re also seeing progress. Hospitals are catching more mistakes, reporting them faster, and trying harder to fix them. Even with more patients and longer stays, the focus is on learning from every error and finding ways to keep people safe. It’s a tough job, but one that’s getting more attention than ever.
Sources:
MDH says patient safety improving in Minnesota hospitals despite adverse health events
Preventable errors at Minnesota hospitals, surgery centers decreased slightly in 2024
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