Kennedy
Bill to Promote Voluntary Reporting of Medical Errors
On October 2, 2002, Senator Edward
Kennedy (D-MA) introduced legislation aimed at improving patient
safety by promoting voluntary reporting of patient safety events
and other measures.Kennedy's
Patient Safety Improvement and Medical Injury Reduction Act allows
healthcare providers to report medical errors and patient safety
incidents to certified patient safety organizations, which would
develop and disseminate methods and strategies to prevent or
reduce medical errors and patient safety incidents.The proposed legislation would establish grants be used for
health care improvements such as computerized physician-order
entry systems and health information systems.The bill would ensure that health care workers would be
protected from retaliation if they report errors or incidents
under the act.
