--- title: Medicare Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Costs Have Been Slashed description: Researchers described the finding as "jaw-dropping" canonical: https://time.com/3975187/hospitals-improvement-medicare-deaths-hospitalization-costs/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-28T18:54:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:39:50.430Z article:section: Health og:title: Hospitals Reduce Deaths Among Medicare Patients og:description: "It's a jaw-dropping finding," says the study's lead author og:url: https://time.com/3975187/hospitals-improvement-medicare-deaths-hospitalization-costs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hospitals Reduce Deaths Among Medicare Patients twitter:description: "It's a jaw-dropping finding," says the study's lead author twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Hospitals Have Reduced Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Costs Among Medicare Patients  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 28, 2015 6:54 PM UTC  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 28, 2015 6:54 PM UTC American hospitals have reduced deaths, hospitalizations, and costs among people over the age of 65 in the past couple of decades, according to a new report released Tuesday. “We didn’t expect to see such a remarkable improvement over time,” said Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the [study](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2411282), which appeared in the _Journal of the American Medical Association_ (JAMA). Krumholz and his colleagues looked at over 68 million Medicare beneficiaries between 1999 and 2013\. The group was chosen for their “fee-for-service” structure, where doctors and hospitals would be paid per procedure or visit. They found that hospitalization rates for this group plummeted 24%, saving more than 3 million people unnecessary hospital visits. Their chance of survival and recovery had improved from less than two decades ago: patients were 45% less likely to die during their stay, 24% less likely to die within a month of being admitted, and 22% less likely to die within the year. Deaths among the group fell 16%, meaning 300,000 lives were saved in the 14-year span, according to the report. Patients who visited the hospital also saw a 15% drop in their bills compared to 1999. Krumholz said that better training for hospital staff led to many of the improvements. “There has been tremendous focus on making sure that our hospitals are safer and that treatments are more timely and effective,” [Krumholz told _USA Today._](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/27/medicare-mortality-costs-study/30757669/) People are also living healthier, longer lives—smoking less, breathing cleaner air, and able to take advantage of scientific breakthroughs in medicine. Despite doing so well, Krumholz doesn’t think it’s time for hospitals to get lax. “The things we’re trying to do to make things better are working,” Krumholz noted. “Rather than wave the victory flag, we want to see that trend continue. There’s no reason to take our foot off the pedal.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3975187/hospitals-improvement-medicare-deaths-hospitalization-costs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3975187/hospitals-improvement-medicare-deaths-hospitalization-costs/"},"headline":"Hospitals Have Reduced Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Costs Among Medicare Patients","datePublished":"2015-07-28T18:54:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:39:50.430Z","description":"\"It's a jaw-dropping finding\"","url":"https://time.com/3975187/hospitals-improvement-medicare-deaths-hospitalization-costs/","keywords":["Healthcare","medicine","Public Health","Research","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/healthcare/","name":"Healthcare"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3975187/hospitals-improvement-medicare-deaths-hospitalization-costs/","name":"Hospitals Have Reduced Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Costs Among Medicare Patients"}}]}] ```