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A study by the insurance company Aon Corporation reports hospital-acquired conditions accounted for 12.2% of total legal liability costs incurred by healthcare facilities in 2007.

According to Aon's "2008 Hospital Professional Liability and Physician Liability Benchmark Analysis," one out of six claims against healthcare facilities was tied to hospital-acquired infections, injuries, pressure ulcers, and objects left in patients' bodies after surgery last year.

The most expensive claims, at an average of about $145,000 each, were for pressure ulcers.

Beginning Oct. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services stopped paying for 11 conditions — such as pressure ulcers and hospital-acquired infections — that it deems "never events."

Aon analyzed nearly 78,000 claims with $9.3 billion of incurred losses for its report from more than 1,200 facilities.

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