Voluntary error reporting database passed by Congress
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
August 3, 2005
Congress has approved a bill creating a nationwide, voluntary medical error database. Healthcare providers will voluntarily and confidentially report to patient safety organizations, which will then contact hospitals to analyze the error data and help develop solutions, according to an article in the Washington Post. President Bush signed the bill into law on July 29.The federal government will provide the technical support needed to run the database, which will cost about $60 million over the next five years. The bill was passed six years after the Institute of Medicine's To Err is Human called for a similar system.
Hospitals argued against a mandatory reporting system, saying a voluntary format would ensure better participation from hospitals and physicians, according to the Post.
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