Patient Safety

Overview

The Washington Healthcare Forum began studying the issue of patient safety and medical liability reform in 2004. Our goal is to develop a system that both promotes patient safety and reduces preventable errors and injuries.

To accomplish these goals, we created a Patient Safety and Medical Liability Reform subcommittee, which commissioned two national experts to help us develop our approach. The resulting paper subsequently was reviewed by other national experts in the field.

The approach is based on the following principle: replace our fault-based medical liability system, with a new, patient-oriented system based on prevention.

As a result, people who suffer avoidable injuries will receive timely and fair compensation. Currently, most people who are harmed are not receiving any compensation and there is no organized way for the health care system to prevent future errors. This new system would ensure that most people who are harmed by a preventable medical error would be compensated, and that there would be fewer errors over time.

For more information, please contact Don Brennan, Forum Chair, dbskb@msn.com or Abbi Kaplan, Forum Communications at akaplan@abbikaplan.com.

Additional Information

Further information on this issue is provided below:

» click here to view the Issue Brief

» click here to view the Executive Summary

 

Additional information on our Quality Measures can be found here:

» Issue Brief

» Executive Summary