Can We Fix It?

Can our government help reduce medical errors?

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Organizations that have put disclosure programs into practice have been effective in resolving disputes in a less adversarial manner ... providing fair compensation, and improving patient care.
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."
From Reader's Digest - August 2006
 
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