O.T.NOW, maybe they will listen to us!

[Guest guest]

Monday, August 31, 2009, 1:43pm EDT

New hospital safety law in N.J.

Philadelphia Business Journal - by Staff Writer

N.J. Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law Monday legislation requiring public

reporting of hospitals’ patient safety performance and rates of serious

medical errors.

As part of the new law, hospitals will be prohibited from charging consumers and

their insurance companies for serious medical errors.

Corzine said dual goals of the measure are “helping people make more informed

health-care decisions and helping hospitals prevent medical errors.â€

The bill requires the state Department of Health and Senior Services to publish

in its annual “New Jersey Hospital Performance Report†hospital-specific

results on measures of patient safety. Measures include such serious adverse

events as objects left inside patients during surgery, accidental cuts and

punctures to patients, or hip fractures suffered in a post-surgery fall.

“When most people buy a car or a home appliance, they do some research to make

sure they’re getting the best deal for their money,†said Senate Majority

Leader Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem. “However, with

health care, consumers are essentially left in the dark, unaware of their

hospital’s track record on even the most basic patient safety indicators which

are already collected by the industry and the state. It’s time that we share

this information with the public, to let them make the best decisions possible

and control their own health-care destiny.â€

The 2009 New Jersey Hospital Performance Report released later this year will be

the first to include the newly available patient safety data.

The report will include numbers of adverse events and rates, by hospital, along

with statewide and national comparisons. Fourteen measures were chosen based on

guidelines from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

Pennsylvania requires hospitals and other care providers to report " serious

events " and " incidents " to a patient safety authority established under

legislation enacted in 2004.