Hospitals that implemented a six-step error-reduction plan saved an estimated 122,000 lives over 18 months, according to a recent study. More than 3,000 hospitals participated, sharing their data in a groundbreaking cooperative effort known as the 100,000 Lives Campaign. (For more information, visit ihi.org.) This spring, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama co-wrote the Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation (MEDiC) bill. Its goals:
- promote open communication between patients and providers;
- reduce the rates of preventable medical errors;
- ensure patients access to fair compensation for medical injury, negligence or malpractice;
- reduce the cost of medical liability insurance.
"Organizations that have put disclosure programs into practice have been effective in resolving disputes in a less adversarial manner," they wrote in
The New England Journal of Medicine, "providing fair compensation, and improving patient care."
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