Washington Post Examines Legislation Creating Medical Error Database

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 30 Jul 2005 - 1:00 PDT

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The Washington Post on Friday examined the potential effects of a national patient safety database authorized under a bill... (S 544) passed by the Senate on July 21 and by the House on Wednesday. The legislation seeks to encourage health care providers to report medical errors voluntarily to patient safety organizations, which would compile and analyze the data. The patient safety organizations would contract with the providers to identify trends and develop proposals to prevent future medical errors (Gaul, Washington Post, 7/29). The data would not identify specific patients, providers or individuals who report medical errors. In addition, patients could not use the data as evidence in medical malpractice lawsuits or other litigation, and accrediting bodies or regulators could not use the data to take action against providers. President Bush is expected to sign the bill (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/28).

Some Concerns
Lawmakers have "long debated" legislation that seeks to reduce medical errors, with much of the discussion focusing on whether to establish a voluntary or mandatory reporting system, the Post reports. Twenty-three states currently have medical error reporting systems, with all but one mandatory. Some states, such as Minnesota, publish data on medical errors reported by hospitals, and others, such as Florida, track errors but do not release hospital names. According to supporters of a voluntary national medical error reporting system, confidentiality will encourage providers to report errors. However, some consumer advocates and patient safety experts maintain that such a system "could duplicate efforts by state groups," the Post reports. Jill Rosenthal, a patient safety analyst for the National Academy for State Health Policy, said "If you are a hospital, are you going to report to both the state and a patient safety organization? Are they going to share information?" Robert Wachter, a patient safety expert and physician in California, said the current state medical error reporting systems are "a chaotic mess," adding, "It's not so much a system as a non-system." Wachter said that a national medical error reporting system is "probably ... more important symbolically but will have limited practical impact." Some groups also said the legislation does not include adequate provisions to prevent medical errors. Arthur Levin, director of the Center for Medical Consumers, called the bill a "teeny step forward," adding, "If you had anything else killing that many people ... you'd have some action" (Washington Post, 7/29).

The Washington Post

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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