Care coordination and quality improvement strategies are starting to bear fruit, according to new data from the Department of Health and Human Services, which found a 9 percent drop in hospital acquired conditions in 2011 and 2012. 

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These reductions in adverse drug events, falls and infections have prevented nearly 15,000 deaths, avoided 560,000 injuries and saved as much as $4 billion in health spending over the same period.

"We applaud the nationwide network of hospital systems and providers that are working together to save lives and reduce costs," said outgoing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "We are seeing a simultaneous reduction in hospital readmissions and injuries, giving patients confidence that they are receiving the best possible care and lowering their risk of having to be readmitted to the hospital after they get the care they need."

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These quality improvements stem from what HHS says is "unprecedented" public-private collaboration made possible by the Affordable Care Act -- combined with focused policies on harm reduction and improvements enabled by the use of health information technology.

These collaborative efforts include the federal Partnership for Patients initiative, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration on Community Living, the Indian Health Services, and various hospital engagement networks and quality improvement organizations.

Thanks also to targeted patient and family engagement efforts, providers nationwide have achieved reductions in hospital-induced harm experienced by patients.

The ACA has also helped reduce hospital readmissions, according to HHS. After holding steady at 19 percent from 2007 to 2011 and decreasing to 18.5 percent in 2012, the Medicare all-cause 30-day readmission rate has dropped to approximately 17.5 percent in 2013 -- an 8 percent reduction in the rate and an estimated 150,000 fewer hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries for 2012 and 2013.

Read the full HHS report here.