New Jersey Hospitals May Be Required to Disclose Medical Errors
In early March 2009, a New Jersey Senate committee discussed a new bill that would require the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to make public information about hospital medical errors.

April 09, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- New Jersey Hospitals May Be Required to Disclose Medical Errors

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In early March 2009, a New Jersey Senate committee discussed a new bill that would require the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to make public information about hospital medical errors. The law would give patients access to hospital names and the specific errors that occurred at each, allowing patients to make more informed choices regarding their health care. In addition, the law should improve patient safety and reduce the number of preventable medical errors -- errors that often cause injury, extra hospital time and increased health care costs.

Overview of Senate Bill S2471

Senate Bill S2471 (Assembly Bill A3633) was sponsored by Senators Joseph F. Vitale, Stephen M. Sweeney and Loretta Weinberg. AARP New Jersey advocated for such a bill, and it is a collaboration between DHSS and the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute.

The bill would require that the new medical error information be published in the DHSS annual publication the New Jersey Hospital Performance Report. Under the proposed legislation, hospital-specific data about the following patient safety indicators would be included:
• Foreign body left in patient during procedure
• Iatrogenic pneumothorax (air around the lung)
• Postoperative hip fracture
• Postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma
• Postoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE)
• Postoperative sepsis
• Postoperative wound dehiscence (rupture)
• Accidental puncture or laceration
• Transfusion reaction
• Birth trauma
• Obstetric trauma - vaginal delivery with instrument
• Obstetric trauma - vaginal delivery without instrument
• Air embolism
• Surgery on the wrong side, wrong body part or wrong person; or wrong surgery performed on a patient

The bill also provides that, because these are generally preventable medical errors, the hospital should not charge or seek payment from a patient for costs "associated with a hospital acquired condition."

In addition, under the proposed bill, the attending physician would be prohibited from charging for or seeking payment from a patient for costs associated with a condition for which a hospital cannot charge the patient. In essence, this means that if a hospital or doctor's medical error causes a patient to incur additional medical expenses, the patient (or his or her insurance company) can't be billed for those expenses.

The proposed legislation also would require hospitals to notify patients of the law's provisions. The notification would be on a form and in a manner prescribed by the DHSS Commissioner.

Patient Safety Act of 2004

New Jersey already gives patients access to certain information about medical errors under the Patient Safety Act of 2004. The Patient Safety Act established a confidential reporting system to report "never events," a term for serious medical errors that can be identified and prevented. The law requires that serious errors be reported to DHSS and the hospital's Patient Safety Committee. The proposed bill would provide patients with even more information than what is already required by the Patient Safety Act in that the identity of hospitals where errors occurred would be revealed.

Conclusion

Giving New Jersey patients access to hospital-specific medical errors would allow them to make more educated choices about their health care. If the proposed bill becomes law, New Jersey citizens will be informed about the safety and quality of the state's hospitals. More importantly, the proposed law aims to improve patient safety and reduce the number of preventable medical errors caused by hospitals, doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. As such, the bill could have a significant positive impact on patient safety.

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