Expect the task force to recommend standardized terminology and definitions to frame the context of medical errors. As for what a mandatory reporting system could look like, the government may not have to look beyond its own backyard. The administration favors a system that would make names of hospitals and numbers of errors public, but not names of individuals. Obviously, it's a question of liability and lawsuits. I think it was just last December when they were in favor of lawsuits regarding medical treatment.
Dickey is also critical of mandatory reporting.
The president's proposal carves out room for research and fact-finding at the federal government level. Like the AMA, the American Hospital Association is wary of mandatory reporting. The AHA is studying the ramifications of current legislation, while at the same time, it is working with the Pennsylvania-based Institute for Safe Medication Practices on a new initiative on medication errors. Payers concerned The IOM's findings that medical mistakes may kill 100,000 people a year has raised the antennae of employers and health plans, who foot the bills for treatment arising from mistakes. But until we get to zero, I'm not going to rest well.