Support our online development, and advance our onground research initiatives in free market economics, as we seek to showcase the brightest Next-Gen minds.
THE ME-P DISCLAIMER: Posts, comments and opinions do not necessarily represent iMBA, Inc., but become our property after submission. Copyright © 2006 to-date. iMBA, Inc allows colleges, universities, medical and financial professionals and related clinics, hospitals and non-profit healthcare organizations to distribute our proprietary essays, photos, videos, audios and other documents; etc. However, please review copyright and usage information for each individual asset before submission to us, and/or placement on your publication or web site. Attestation references, citations and/or back-links are required. All other assets are property of the individual copyright holder.
Despite the IOM Warning, Medical Errors May Have Killed 1 Million Plus In Past Decade
[By Fard Johnmar: First posted May 20, 2009]
Much like remembering the fallen Berlin Wall, it is fitting during this time of political healthcare reform debate, to again consider the IOM report – now more than a decade old.
In a scathing report, Consumers Union estimates that more than 1 million people have died over the last decade due to preventable medical harm. The newly released report, “To Err is Human — To Delay is Deadly,” suggests that since the Institute of Medicine’s influential 1999 report on medical errors, “98,000 people die each year needlessly because of preventable medical harm, including healthcare-acquired infections. Ten years after To Err is Human, we have no national entity comprehensively tracking patient safety events or progress.”
While some hospitals have made great strides in the effort to reduce medical errors and the U.S. government has taken steps to limit reimbursement for preventable medical events, the nation still has a long way to go. Consumers Union is recommending that we develop a national system for tracking medical errors. The organization suggests that concerns about malpractice lawsuits due to reports of medical harm may be overstated.
Assessment
To learn more about the Consumer Union report, please click here.
Channel Surfing
Have you visited our other topic channels? Established to facilitate idea exchange and link our community together, the value of these topics is dependent upon your input. Please take a minute to visit. And, to prevent that annoying spam, we ask that you . You can unsubscribe at any time. Security is assured.
Conclusion
Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.
Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com
OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:
- PHYSICIANS: www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com
- PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
- HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
- CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
- ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
- BLOG: www.MedicalExecutivePost.com
- FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
- INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
Share this:
Filed under: "Doctors Only", Ethics, Quality Initiatives | Tagged: Atul Gawande, Consumers Union, Institute of Medicine Report, IOM, Jack John Wennberg, medical quality, Peter J. Pronovost, To Err is Human — To Delay is Deadly. To Err is Human |
The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants 
The [Already] Forgotten IOM Report
I understand that hospital groups nationwide are furious over a measure just unveiled by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), aimed at improving quality and lowering costs throughout the health-care system.
Why? Well, one provision would impose stiff penalties on hospitals with high infection rates. How soon we forget!
Burles
LikeLike
Yep, a decade after the release of the widely read Institute of Medicine patient safety report “To Err Is Human,” one expert grades current hospital safety efforts at B-.
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/10-years-after-err-human-expert-gives-hospitals-b-safety
Karen
LikeLike
Karen,
Here is a link for more info on accountable MDs and medical quality:
Chuck
LikeLike
Balancing “No Blame” with Accountability in Patient Safety
As our ME-P readers are aware, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Institute of Medicine’s report To Err Is Human, the document that launched the modern patient-safety movement.
A Controversial NEJM Essay
According to Robert M. Wachter MD and Peter J. Pronovost MD PhD in a recent New England Journal of Medicine essay, the traditional focus on identifying on who is at fault is a distraction. It is far more productive to identify error-prone situations and settings, and implement systems that prevent doctors and caregivers from committing errors http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/361/14/1401
The Quality Movement
Although the quality movement has its origins with John E. “Jack” Wennberg MD as the pioneer and leading researcher of unwarranted variation in the healthcare industry, it ultimately spawned the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care http://www.dartmouthatlas.org.
Today, Bob Wachter is surely the next generation of devotees. Just as surgeon Atul Gawande MD [Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and New Yorker magazine] from Harvard Medical School may be among the newest leaders of the movement. And, although it produced a myriad of initiatives, the main theme of the movement, drawn from studies of other high-risk industries that have impressive safety records, boils down to this, most errors are committed by good, hardworking people trying to do the right thing.
As a former Certified Physician in Healthcare Quality myself [CPHQ], Bob first communicated with me many years ago after his own previous work was mentioned in one of our books. Of course, after he congratulated me on its successful release, he promptly pointed out several typographical errors.
So, as we ready the launch of the third edition of the Business of Medical Practice [Transformational Health 2.0 Profit Maximizing Skills for Savvy Physicians], I hereby promise Bob to be extra vigilant against such errors and to never take his constructive criticism personally http://www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
In fact, to know the he even read the book so carefully, is an honor indeed.
Thanks Bob
Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA CMP™
[Publisher-in-Chief]
LikeLike
You go, Dr. Ron Tankersley! – a Twitterpoem
@ADANews, I followed the link to “ADA urges IOM to include practicing dentists” by Craig Palmer in the ADA News Online, 3/5/10.
Link: http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=3947
Where have you been, Dr. Ron Tankersley? And why haven’t you spoke up like this earlier? Now you’re showing the courage expected of leaders.
Tankersley points out that the IOM failed to include private practice dentist representatives on either of its two oral health panels.
As traditional courtesy, Dr. Tankersley offers: “[Outside of dentistry,] We respect the experience and knowledge of the committee members…
Tankersley: “But the nation’s 167,000 private practice dentists represent some 92 percent of professionally active dentists in the U.S…
“Without them, there can be no significant impact on access to oral health care, regardless of the delivery system.” Tank’s the man!
Darrell K. Pruitt; DDS
LikeLike
Have you ever heard of B. F. Skinner?
When I was a psychology major at Texas Tech in 1975, Skinner had just retired from the position of the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Then, as now, his studies in behaviorism are a powerful influence in the field. Skinner’s theory of learning is based “operant conditioning” – in which an entity’s behavior is “shaped” with rewards as well as punishment.
ADA President Dr. Ron Tankersley and his committee deserve publicized credit for speaking up for dental patients’ interests (See “ADA urges IOM to include practicing dentists” by Craig Palmer).
http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?articleid=3947
If we can influence the leaders of the American Dental Association to limit their actions to only representing dental patients’ interests rather than the for-profit interests of parasitic, unethical stakeholders like the National Association of Dental Plans, Intelligent Dental Marketing of Utah and CareCredit/GE, then our patients will represent us. The Internet is transparent and it is strong in consumerism. We will re-take control of the American Dental Association, sooner or later. Sooner would be better.
Whether one is house-breaking a cute, strong-willed puppy or an anonymous strong-willed ADA committee, it makes sense to reward behavior that keeps crap off the carpet.
D. Kellus Pruitt; DDS
LikeLike
Estimating Hospital Deaths Due to Medical Errors
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/286/4/415
Preventability is in the eye of the reviewer.
Chick
LikeLike
CMS Proposes Adding 20 Measures to PQRI
The CMS outlined several potential changes to its Physician Quality Reporting Initiative program, some of which could make reporting easier, and expand participation among physicians. The changes were included in a proposed rule issued in late June that detailed changes to the Medicare physician fee schedule. Of the 198 measures proposed for the 2011 PQRI, 20 are new. They include several measures related to care transitions, risk-adjusted functional status, and proper care of patients with asthma.
Additionally, the CMS proposed further expanding mechanisms for quality reporting by adding 12 measures that can now be submitted using electronic health records. Physicians would have the option to use claims-data reporting, quality registries or EHRs in at least some reporting capacity, according to the CMS’ proposed rule. The rule would also lower the sample requirements for claims-based reporting to 50% from 80% of applicable cases. The healthcare reform law extended PQRI incentive payments through 2014 and put in place financial penalties for eligible professionals who do not begin reporting by 2015.
Source: Modern Physician [7/12/10]
LikeLike
Protecting the Patient
When reporters at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch heard about a surgeon who removed the wrong kidney from a patient, they wanted to know who protects the patients from such doctors and errors.
The answer was not encouraging.
http://www.healthjournalism.org/resources-articles.php
Kathy
LikeLike
Do We Still Kill Patients?
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2010/12/why-we-still-kill-patients-.html#comments
Dr. Adam
LikeLike
Just Say NO! – Stents
Routine screening for carotid artery stenosis is not recommended for asymptomatic patients with no signs of or risk factors for atherosclerosis — according to new practice guidelines from the American Stroke Association/American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and several other professional groups.
Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA
[Editor-in-Chief]
LikeLike
Essential Health Benefits
[IOM Report to Release October 7th]
A new report by the Institute of Medicine, recommends criteria and methods to guide the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in developing and updating a package of essential health benefits that certain plans will have to cover per the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The report does not comment on whether any particular benefits should be included or excluded, as doing so would have been beyond the committee’s charge.
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=10032011
Ann Miller RN MHA
LikeLike