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Patient Safety Concerns Grow in Congress

Anyone who reads newspapers and watches television news probably realizes that the media and the public are very interested in the safety of healthcare. Interest was first heightened by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” issued in December 1999. It contained a controversial estimate of the number of patient deaths caused by errors in the healthcare system, giving a range of 47,000 to 98,000 deaths annually. The first IOM report was followed in 2001 by a second entitled “Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century”. The second report recommended specific safety measures, such as electronic ordering of all medications and other information technologies, to avoid legibility problems. Much of the publicity in the aftermath of the first IOM report dealt with medication errors and wrong-site surgery. Many healthcare institutions have implemented new initiatives to improve processes and systems related to medication administration, and safeguards to prevent errors in surgery. Many of the same concerns that are raised about medication administration also apply to administration of blood products provided by the laboratory. Are current accreditation systems for hospitals and other healthcare entities effective in ensuring patient safety? An article headlined “Patients suffer as agency shields troubled hospitals” appeared in the Chicago Tribune on November 10, 2002. The article referred to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The writers “…found that the Joint Commission often fails in its role as public guardian”. They criticized the…