Preventable medical errors remain a leading cause of death in the US, with around 400,000 lives lost annually. While mortality reviews are common, they often lack cohesion and the ability to identify system-wide issues. The Brandix i3 Mortality Review System was developed with clinician feedback and aims to eliminate bias. It identified up to 26% more avoidable errors and provided 7 times more actionable insights than traditional reviews. The system also reduced mortality rates up to 11.8% and saved up to 0.2% more lives.

1. Turbo-Charging the Mortality Review System in a
healthcare organization
Posted on May 12, 2016
Preventable medical errors have already prompted hospitals and acute care facilities to invest
millions of dollars in technology to improve quality of care, but that’s not enough to “avoid the
avoidable.”
While mortality and morbidity reviews are now conducted in nearly every hospital, a recent
study by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins unveils that the third leading cause of death in the
United States remains preventable medical errors during hospitalization. That means around
400,000 lives are lost each year to avoidable errors in patient care1
.
There may not be a single solution to reduce hospital deaths, but there are ways to integrate,
fine-tune, and turbo-charge the systems that study them.
Room For Improvement: The Institution-Wide Mortality Review System
Departmental efforts to investigate mortality and morbidity rates are commonplace throughout
healthcare organizations. However, institution-wide mortality and morbidity review systems
are often patchwork quilts of disparate data lacking the cohesion to track, analyze, and report
on causes of death.
So how do healthcare organizations reduce the likelihood of the same mistake being
repeated? This comes down to the healthcare organization having an effective system in place

2. to provide actionable insights and visibility into the care issues contributing to adverse events
and patient deaths including:
• Patient and visit information
• Discharge information and clinical diagnosis with ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes
• Autopsy summary
• Case summary
• Patient story
• Opportunities for improvement
• Problem points with a reliability classification
At Brandix i3, we’ve come a long way from the first mortality and morbidity review systems.
Brandix i3’sMortality Review System is based on real feedback from clinicians at a leading US
healthcare system and is designed to eliminate bias from the review process.
1
Results based on a case study with leading healthcare systems

3. In a recent study, the Brandix i3 Mortality Review System identified up to 26 percent more
avoidable errors, with a seven-fold increase in actionable insights over traditional mortality
and morbidity reviews.2
The new system, developed and implemented by Brandix i3, also
reduced the mortality rate up to 11.8 percent and saved up to 0.2% more lives.3
Connecting existing platforms, EMRs, and legacy systems is the key to easier data review.
With targeted data collection, healthcare professionals can identify process improvements
across the entire care system (or department-by department) that reduces the likelihood of
repeating the same mistake. By reducing error – including fine-tuning guidelines and
identifying new practice measures – higher patient satisfaction scores are well within reach.
Recent studies show that hospitals with lower inpatient mortality rates also tend to have
higher patient satisfaction scores. For example, a 25 percent change in mortality will yield
similar changes in patient satisfaction.4
Brandix i3’s Mortality Review System is an enterprise-level quality and process improvement
solution for hospitals and acute care facilities designed to identify system frailties leading to
death and is a customizable solution that can be implemented in as few as four weeks. The
system drives best-practice behaviors and provides an opportunity to learn from post-
mortality review leading to identification of antecedents and preventable patient deaths.
Author:
Tom Bithell, Brandix i3, US Sales Manager – Healthcare
Tom leads Brandix i3’s Healthcare Sales and has collaborated with Hospitals, Healthcare
Systems and enterprise technology providers for over 35 years. Tom is highly recognized as
an experience senior manager, executive sales professional and business strategist
throughout the US healthcare market.
More resources:
• Read more about a solution for mortality review system, sepsis reporting
requirements (Sepsis DART®
), and otherpatient safety software
• Contact us for a demonstration to see the insides of our Patient Safety Technology
Sources:

4. 1
McCann, E. (2014, July 18). Deaths by medical mistakes hit records. Retrieved March 31, 2016,
from
2,3
Results based on a case study with leading healthcare systems
4
Boulding, W., Ph.D., Manary, M., MSE, Staelin, R., Ph.D., Roe, M. T., M.D., MHS, Wolosin, R. J.,
Ph.D., Ohman, E. M., M.D., . . . Schulman, K. A., M.D. (2009). Patient satisfaction and its
relationship with clinical quality and inpatient mortality in acute myocardial infarction. In S. W.
Glickman M.D., MBA (Author). Boston, MA. (Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcome,
109(90 05), 97th ser., (2009))
http://healthcare.brandixi3.com/turbo-charging-mortality-review-system-healthcare-organization/