House OKs Bill for Medical Error Database
WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday that would create the first national network for reporting, analyzing and correcting medical errors, which were estimated to cause 40,000 to 98,000 preventable deaths each year.
The Senate has approved an identical measure. The House's 428-3 vote means the bill will go to President Bush, who is expected to sign it.
Backers called the patient safety legislation a step toward encouraging doctors and other healthcare providers to report mistakes and hazards. Common medical errors include giving patients the wrong medications and lax sanitary practices, which can lead to infections at hospitals and nursing homes.
Such problems had received relatively little national attention until recently, despite the death toll. By comparison, highway accidents claimed 42,800 lives last year.
The bill would guarantee confidentiality to healthcare providers who reported problems, and would bar the reports from being used in malpractice suits and workplace and professional disciplinary proceedings. It would not block patients and families from using other medical records as evidence in a lawsuit.
After the House vote, Dr. J. Edward Hill, president of the American Medical Assn., said: "The healthcare community has long been committed to improving patient safety, and significant progress has been made through new technology, research and education. But federal legislation is the crucial element needed to truly expand broad patient safety reforms nationwide.
"When physicians can report errors in a voluntary and confidential manner, everyone benefits," Hill said. "Future system errors can be avoided as we learn from past mistakes."
A reporting system, added Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.), a principal author of the bill, "will help create a culture of awareness to expose and address the systemic causes of medical errors instead of continuing the culture of blame, which hides and perpetuates them."
The patient safety bill, which all members of the California delegation supported, may be one of the few pieces of healthcare legislation enacted this year by an ideologically polarized Congress.
Republican-backed measures to cap pain-and-suffering damages in malpractice cases, and to allow small business to circumvent state requirements that can increase the cost of health insurance, appear to have little chance in the Senate. Democrats are boycotting a commission that will recommend cuts in the Medicaid health insurance program.
