Contact:
Jerry Berger, BIDMC, 617-667-7308; jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
Rick Gulla, MMS, 781-434-7101; rgulla@mms.org
Waltham, MA -- March 17, 2011 -- Disclosure, apology and offer,
a program where clinicians and hospitals respond to an adverse
event with clear facts, an appropriate apology and timely and fair
financial compensation if warranted, is a viable but underutilized
element in efforts to reduce health care costs in Massachusetts,
according to preliminary findings of a federally funded study.
"The ultimate goal of "The Roadmap for Transforming Medical
Liability and Improving Patient Safety in Massachusetts," is to
create a new system that improves patient and provider trust,
reduces fear and improves patient safety," says Ken Sands, MD, MPH,
senior vice president for health care quality at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, which drafted the roadmap in conjunction
with the Massachusetts Medical Society, backed by a $273,782 grant
from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
"The current system for addressing medical error and patient
injury creates a baseline of suspicion that compromises the
physician-patient relationship," said Alan Woodward, MD of the MMS,
who noted the often lengthy legal process imposes hardships on both
patients and providers.
Initial findings from in-depth interviews among key stakeholders
in the patient safety and patient advocate community as well as the
medical, legal and insurance systems identified a number of
potential barriers to changing the current system where the
majority of cases end up in lengthy litigation processes.
Those include physician discomfort with disclosure and apology;
the difficulty in coordinating cases among multiple insurers; the
legal community's interest in maintaining the status quo; and
existing state liability provisions.
Initial implementation proposals call for improved education
among all key stakeholders, including patients and families,
physicians, health care enterprises, insurers, attorneys and
legislators. The eventual goal is creation of a system where:
- physicians can apologize without fear of legal
consequences;
- there is a mandatory pre-litigation review period;
- pertinent medical records are available to support thorough
root causes analyses, allowing accurate determinations of how an
error occurred and what can be done to prevent recurrences;
- changes can be made in reporting requirements so that
physicians are not personally liable for errors resulting from
systems failures.
An audience with representation from the physician community,
legal profession, and insurance industry, among others, expressed
support for moving to this new model. A final roadmap will be
issued within a few months that incorporates suggestions made at
this week's presentation.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching
and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently
ranks among the top four in National Institutes of Health funding
among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically
affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research
partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official
hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 23,000
physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and
advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The
Society publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading
global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and
newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader
in continuing medical education for health care professionals
throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education
programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in
1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in
the country.
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