Medical errors cost the United States close to $19.5 billion and resulted in thousands of avoidable deaths and millions of days missed from work in 2008, according to a report commissioned by the Society of Actuaries.

The report, published Monday, found that of the $80 billion in costs linked to medical injuries, a quarter were caused by preventable medical errors. Medical injuries caused by preventable errors also resulted in 2,500 deaths and more than 10 million days missed from work, the study said.

"While this cost is staggering, it also highlights the need to reduce errors and improve quality and efficiency in American health care," Jim Toole, managing director of MBA Actuaries, Inc., said in a statement.

Of the total costs, around $17 billion were the result of inpatient, outpatient and prescription drug errors, while about $2.5 billion were caused by lost productivity due to related disability claims and increased death rates, the survey said.

Jonathan Shreve, co-author of the report and an actuary with Milliman Inc., the group contracted to prepare the study, said the true number of errors might be higher than the 1.5 million or so they found.

"This number includes only the errors that we could identify through claims data, so the total economic impact of medical errors is in fact greater than what we have reported," he said in a statement.

The costliest errors identified by the study involve pressure ulcers, postoperative infections, mechanical complications, postlaminectomy syndrome and bleeding following a procedure.

More Industry Headlines