November 20, 2007
Hospitals Say Instruments On Us
By Matthew L. Brown
Hospitals in Massachusetts will no longer charge patients for procedures that include preventable errors, according to the Massachusetts Hospital Association.
The association said Massachusetts was the second state in the country to adopt the policy.
Hospitals here will no longer charge patients or insurers for "certain serious adverse events," including what the association called "wrong site surgeries and serious medication errors."
The association said the policy would be put into effect in early 2008, and would be based on the definitions of adverse events accepted by the National Quality Forum. Along with surgery on the wrong body part, the policy covers surgery on the wrong patient, the wrong surgical procedure, retention of a foreign object, medication errors, the wrong donor for artificial insemination, infant discharge to the wrong family and others.
The association said Massachusetts was the second state in the country to adopt the policy.
Hospitals here will no longer charge patients or insurers for "certain serious adverse events," including what the association called "wrong site surgeries and serious medication errors."
The association said the policy would be put into effect in early 2008, and would be based on the definitions of adverse events accepted by the National Quality Forum. Along with surgery on the wrong body part, the policy covers surgery on the wrong patient, the wrong surgical procedure, retention of a foreign object, medication errors, the wrong donor for artificial insemination, infant discharge to the wrong family and others.
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