Developed in response to the President s call for action in December, the QuIC response endorses virtually every IOM recommendation proposed and includes actions that go beyond it. The President will also commend the Vice President for his leadership on this issue, thank members of Congress in both parties for their work, and praise the efforts of consumers, doctors, hospitals, nurses, health plans and businesses to improve patient safety. Although the U.S. offers some of the best health care in the world, the number of medical errors is still too high. Medical errors are common and costly. One study of over 30,000 patients indicated that nearly 60 percent of patients suffering adverse events in a hospital stay were subjected to a preventable medical error.
Medication errors account for a significant portion of preventable adverse events.
The IOM estimates the number of lives lost to preventable medication errors account for over 7,000 deaths annually in hospitals alone and tens of thousands more in outpatient facilities nationwide. A study of hospitals in New York State indicated that drug complications represent 19 percent of all adverse events, and that 45 percent of these adverse events were caused by medical errors. A new Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety. The development of a regulation assuring that all hospitals participating in Medicare implement patient safety programs. This year, the Health Care Financing Administration will publish regulations requiring the over 6,000 hospitals participating in Medicare to have in place error reduction programs that include new systems to decrease medication errors.