Medical Liability Shield Proposed
Washington
Health insurers and risk managers are applauding legislation aimed at encouraging the reporting of medical errors by easing fears of litigation.
The legislation, S. 2590, would provide legal protection for information on medical errors reported voluntarily for the purposes of quality improvement and patient safety. This means that the information cannot be used to generate malpractice lawsuits.
One of the chief sponsors of the legislation–Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.–said in a statement that the bill will foster an open, collaborative environment where health professionals can freely share information and analyze it thoroughly.
"Healthcare providers should not be punished for trying to learn from their mistakes, reduce medical errors, and improve the quality of care they deliver to patients," Sen. Frist said. Other sponsors include Sens. John Breaux, D-La., Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H.
Donald Young, president of the Washington-based Health Insurance Association of America, said the bill will help transform the healthcare "culture of blame" to a "culture of safety." He added that "fear of lawsuits hangs like a dark cloud over the current system, inhibiting the sharing of essential information."
Neil Trautwein, director of employment policy for the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, cited an Institute of Medicine report released in 2000, which said that medical errors kill between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans every year. "That is an outrage to patients, providers and employers," he said. "This new legislation will go a long way toward addressing this highly-preventable national tragedy."
He said that creating a zone of protection from "rampant medical malpractice litigation" will be more effective in deterring medical errors than lawsuits.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, June 17, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.