Medical errors also was the focus of several hearings held by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pension Committee early this year. When the issue of medical errors was raised during Capitol Hill visits at the 2000 National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference, participants expressed their belief that Policy-makers must first determine, through careful research, whether and how current medical error reporting programs, as well as prevention initiatives, have lead to reduction in medical error. Funding must be made available to redesign systems based on research findings and the costs to hospitals and other providers for implementing these systems must be considered. Access to medical error data under the current liability system must be carefully and thoroughly analyzed and the mechanisms for reporting must ensure patient and provider confidentiality and expand peer review liability protections. Resources must be available to communicate information on patient safety practices to hospitals, other institutional providers, health care professionals and consumers.
Most lawmakers are unfamiliar with private efforts to promote safe and appropriate practices.
In a recent press release, AAOS Executive Vice President, William Tipton, Jr., MD, called for a constructive partnership with the Federal government and a unified effort among physicians, other medical personnel, and hospitals to initiate preoperative and other institutional policies that can effectively eliminate medical errors in the United States. Confidentiality is the key to any successful effort to decrease medical errors by fostering that open dialogue. To date, Congress has not taken any action on the medical errors issue. However, this controversial issue will probably re-surface in Washington in 2001.