ATLANTA -- A campaign to reduce lethal errors and unnecessary deaths in U.S. hospitals has saved an estimated 122,300 lives in the past 18 months, the campaign's leader said Wednesday.

"I think this campaign signals no less than a new standard of health care in America," said Dr. Donald Berwick, a Harvard professor who organized the campaign.

About 3,100 hospitals participated in the project, sharing mortality data and carrying out study-tested procedures that prevent infections and mistakes, including several in Southern Nevada. Experts say the cooperative effort was unusual for a competitive industry that traditionally doesn't like to publicly focus on patient-killing problems.

"We in health care have never seen or experienced anything like this," said Dr. Dennis O'Leary, president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Berwick announced the campaign's results Wednesday morning at a hospital conference in Atlanta. O'Leary was one of hundreds of industry dignitaries and representatives in attendance.

"Health care as a whole is becoming more transparent,'' said Ann Savin, system director of quality for Valley Health Systems which operates four hospitals in Southern Nevada. Each of them, Spring Valley, Valley, Summerlin and Desert Springs participated in the campaign. "CMS (federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) now requires us to give that kind of data in order to receive reimbursements. So, this is just the beginning.''

Medical mistakes were the focus of a widely noted 1999 national report that estimated 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of errors and low-quality care.

That year, Berwick -- president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization -- challenged health care leaders to improve care quality and prevent mistakes.

In December 2004, he stepped up the challenge by announcing a "100,000 Lives Campaign." He set a June 14, 2006, deadline to sign up at least 2,000 U.S. hospitals in the effort and implement six types of changes.

Perhaps the best known of the six changes was to deploy rapid response teams for emergency care of patients whose vital signs suddenly deteriorate.

Hospitals generally have teams that respond when patients develop sudden heart or breathing problems. That work is common in emergency departments. The measure was designed to make sure the service is available around-the-clock to other units, and to encourage lower-ranking medical staff members not to be intimidated about calling for help.

Savin said a Rapid Response Team program was implemented at Spring Valley Hospital in October. But Savin could not say whether that program is responsible for the decline.

"Maybe its better technology, different medications being used or maybe patients are being more cooperative. They do make a difference,'' she said. "But, what we do know is that since we've implemented Rapid Response, mortality rates have gone down.''

Rick Plummer, a spokesman for Valley Health System, said each hospital implemented the six measures in an attempt to lower the mortality rates and improve patient care. As a result, mortality rates are slightly lower than in previous years when the measures were not in place, he said.

Glenda McCartney, a spokeswoman for Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Sunrise Children's Hospital, said the hospitals participated in the campaign as well. McCartney said all HCA hospitals participated, including MountainView and Southern Hills hospitals, also in Las Vegas.

Another of the six changes urged checks and rechecks of patient medications to protect against drug errors. A third focused on preventing surgical site infections by following certain guidelines, including giving patients antibiotics before their operations.

The hospitals also were asked to contribute monthly mortality data to Berwick's organization, which attempted to track the impact.

The effort was endorsed by federal health officials, health insurers, hospital industry leaders, the American Medical Association and others.

Review-Journal writer Annette Wells contributed to this report.