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Risk Management Efforts
The Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA), a trade association of et al.; “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Medication Prescribing Errors
physician-owned malpractice carriers, states that failure-to-diagnose represents one-fifth of all negligence and malpractice claims.
diagnosis as the reason for litigation.
4. Tokarski, C; “Medical Error- Prevention Strategies Face Barriers to Acceptance”; 5. Tokarski, C; “Reporting Requirements analysis of why physicians get sued.
9. Kostreski, F ;”Pediatricians Remain at Role of Autopsy
Physicians in Massachusetts: 1975-1993”; Conclusion
Neoplasms”; JAMA 1998 280; (14): 1245-8 Pre-mortem Clinical Diagnosis in Critically This newsletter has been sent to you as
autopsy results of critically ill patients a courtesy. If you would not like to
continue receiving complimentary
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Challenges
Winter 2001
Current Legislation
t was shocking to many to read the 1999 Institute of Medicine
(IOM) report “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System”
and learn that tens of thousands of Americans die each year
as a result of medical errors.
largely due to advances in technology.
technology are now the eighth major cause In this issue:
errors will be expensive to build, upgrade •Medical Errors
passed onto the insurers and health plans •Common Medical Errors
errors are either not recorded (by intent or inadvertent omission) in the medical record.
New Strategies to Reduce Medical
Second, outpatient injuries are excluded, made mistakes in caring for patients.
Maureen Jones, FNP, LNC
regulations and peer review, errors may be Coalition on Health Care, states that the Owner, Century Consulting
Future Trends
findings, even if a physician objects.
that $30 million to be spent creating a new decreasing coverage and poor quality.
including extended practice as aFamily Nurse Practitioner. She is National Patient Safety Center. This center If you would like more
information about these or
other topics, please call our
research to learn about prevention. It would offices at (503) 465-9796 or
also serve as a clearinghouse on the latest mjones@centuryconsulting.net
policies into benefit contracts (3).
reporting medical errors is very controversial.
Two types of medical reporting systems are identified: voluntary reporting of errors that wireless devices are just a few of the ways result in minimal or no harm; and mandatory reporting of errors resulting in death or serious playing a positive role in the reduction of permanent injury. Many fear that reporting egregious events will dramatically increase malpractice liability. The IOM believes that Meeting Planners:
liability may lend itself to a more conducive Maureen Jones is
available to conventions
and groups regarding
critics of the IOM state that while the report medication errors over a five-year period Legal/Medical issues. For
further information please
hospitals are doing very little about the contact Century
Consulting, LLC at
problems of safety, the opposite is true.
(503) 465-9796.
substandard care have decreased andmortality from both common andsophisticated procedures has declined,

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