Government
Patient safety push is on
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 27, 2005
Patient safety legislation has finally gained some traction in the House, months after the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee approved its version of the bill.
Rep. Nathan Deal (R, Ga.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, said he would push for a bipartisan agreement by August. His announcement came after he listened to testimony on the need for an error-reporting system that provides physicians and hospitals with safeguards against the information being used in medical liability cases.
"Health care errors would be prevented by transforming the existing culture of blame, which suppresses information about errors, into a culture of safety, which focuses on sharing information in order to prevent future errors," said AMA Trustee Cyril M. Hetsko, MD. Along with 128 other health organizations, the AMA recently sent a letter to Congress urging passage of patient safety legislation.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/06/27/gvbf0627.htm.
