By Albert Lea Tribune and Associated Press

An annual state report showed Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin and Albert Lea had fewer preventable medical errors last year.

After four “adverse health events” were reported last year at the Albert Lea and Austin medical centers, only one was reported this year: a patient suicide in Austin.

Across Minnesota, the annual report on patient safety showed more errors but fewer deaths in hospitals in the past year.

The Department of Health found 277 so-called “adverse health events” in categories that have long been tracked, such as wrong-site surgery or foreign objects left in a patient.

That was up slightly from 258 a year ago.

Deaths fell from 15 a year ago to eight.

The report added four new categories, including death or injury during a low-risk pregnancy and simple failure to communicate test results properly. Those new categories pushed adverse events to 308 and deaths to 13. Six of those deaths came during labor and delivery in low-risk pregnancies.

Officials said the new categories were added to conform to a national set of health care standards.

The report tracked events from Oct. 7, 2013, to Oct. 6, 2014.