Preventable medical errors and infections harm one in four hospital patients, according to a new study by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). As an Illinois personal injury attorney, I find these numbers to be staggering. While all hospitals included in the study had incident reporting systems in place and administrators claimed to rely heavily on the collected information, according to the HHS study, only 14% of hospital errors are being reported.
In order to participate in the Medicare Program, hospitals must develop and utilize a Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) program. The purpose of this mandate is to track patient harm events and analyze their causes, which is crucial to preventing these incidents in the future.
A recommendation to come out of the study is that hospitals be provided with a standard list of incidents to be tracked and reported. But what if something happens that is not on the standard list?
Learn more about Vinkler Law medical malpractice experience, All patient harm events should be reported, and hospitals must do whatever it takes to improve patient safety. If you or a loved one suffers a medical injury or infection caused by a hospital, be sure to call an Illinois personal injury attorney with the experience and proven success record in winning these types of cases.