+ Technology/Innovation
Jamie Barrand | Nov 5, 2015

CDC looking for hospitals using best practices for blood clot prevention

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is looking for hospitals and other managed health care organizations that have put in place best practices and strategies to prevent health care-related blood clots.

The CDC plans to honor those facilities while also highlighting their best practices so that other medical professionals can learn from them.

The CDC estimates that 900,000 Americans are stricken annually with venous thromboembolism (VTE) - more commonly known as blood clots. Of these, approximately half are the result of hospitalization or surgery, and approximately 100,000 of them lead to death.

Additionally, blood clots kill more cancer patients than the disease itself.

Studies have shown that as many as 70 percent of these clots may be preventable

“Doctors and nurses in hospitals and other health care settings can save lives by implementing the best practices discovered through this challenge,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said. "Tell us about what you are doing and what’s helping prevent blood clots, so we can advance science and save lives together.”

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