Institute of Medicine Cites Progress Since Release of Medical Errors Report
May 04, 2000Institute of Medicine President Dr. Kenneth Shine said Wednesday that support for the IOM's recommendations aimed at reducing medical errors is growing, despite fears of litigation and implementation questions.
At the Wall Street Journal Health Care 2000 Summit here, Dr. Shine told a group of experts in the fields of medicine, business and government that progress is being made because leaders from diverse areas of health are meeting to implement strategies.
"We have been getting a lot of positive feedback from hospitals and physicians around the country who want specific guidelines to help them reduce medical errors, and we have the support of Congress and the President," Dr. Shine said.
He cited data from studies showing that anesthesiologists effectively reduced medical errors by providing critical information about medical mistakes to their colleagues.
"We still believe that mandatory reporting is important and necessary in cases where serious injury and death occur," Dr. Shine said, "but in less severe cases a 'peer-reviewed, closed-door' method of reporting is advised. That way, medical errors can be shared among hospitals and physicians as a learning tool without fear of litigation."
As reported last year by Reuters Health, the researchers who conducted the IOM study estimated that 50% of adverse medical events are due to preventable medical errors, and that errors cause up to 98,000 deaths annually and increase hospital costs by as much as $2 billion each year.