Patient Safety & Reducing Medical Errors: Exploring OptionsOctober 15, 2007
Location: Cheyenne, WY Event Summary:
Improving patient safety – and compensating patients who have been injured – remain top priorities for all who work in and around Wyoming health care. Common Good and the Wyoming Healthcare Commission co-hosted this forum which included presentations about the ways in which an administrative approach to injury compensation might facilitate enhancements in patient safety. Speakers and panelists provided perspectives on legal and regulatory barriers that this shift might implicate, considered a variety of reform efforts around the country, and provided local insights on how such proposals would function.
Professor Michelle Mello of the Harvard School of Public Health stressed the need for a systems approach to medical malpractice and error reporting, as many injuries are caused or amplified by multiple systematic failures. Dr. Allen Kachalia of Harvard Medical School also discussed how the traditional negligence model of blame in the tort system does little to improve patient safety. Panelists considered the proposals in the context of Wyoming and healthcare nationwide. "We definitely need to change the system on both sides of the fence, on the medical side and the legal side," Dr. Larry Kirven of Buffalo Valley Medical Center said. "Medicine is not the same as it was 20 years ago and malpractice law probably hasn't changed in 40 or 50 years."
Attendees also heard from Professor Dale Nance of Case Western Reserve University Law School, who indicated that while reports of the failures of the tort system may be overblown, there are critical flaws in patient safety reporting and error prevention. Additionally, he noted that the tort system does not compensate most injured patients and the average medical malpractice case is extremely lengthy and costly for both sides. A representative from the office of Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi read a statement from the Senator, "Our current medical litigation system is broken. It doesn't work well for patients and doesn't work well for doctors. What we need is a system that delivers quick and fair compensation to injured patients while providing consistent and reliable results so doctors can eliminate the practice of defensive medicine and learn from medical errors."
Read highlights and press coverage of the event
Agenda and Flyer
View the Speakers' Presentations:
Letter from Senator Michael Enzi of Wyoming
The Negligence Standard and Medical Error Causation: What the Evidence Tells Us - Professor Michelle Mello,
Associate Professor of Health Policy and Law, Harvard School of Public Health
Administrative Compensation and the Avoidability Standard: Opportunities for Patient Safety Enhancement - Dr.
Allen Kachalia, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Translating Research Into Policy: National Perspectives - Paul Barringer, General Counsel, Common Good
Medical Malpractice Liability: Is the Sky Really Falling? - Professor Dale Nance, Case Western Reserve
University Law School
Compensation + Learning + Accountability: The Equation for Medical Malpractice Reform - Professor Ed Dauer,
Dean Emeritus, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Speakers:
Professor Michelle Mello, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Law, Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Allen Kachalia, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Paul Barringer, General Counsel, Common Good
Professor Edward A. Dauer, Dean Emeritus, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Dale Nance, Case Western Reserve University Law School
Panelists:
Rod Barton, Powell Valley Healthcare Inc.
Denise Burke, University of Wyoming College of Law
Peggy Callantine, Memorial Hospital of Sheridan County
Dr. Larry Kirven, Wyoming Health Care Commission
Dr. Diane Noton, Wyoming Board of Medicine
Robert Tiedeken, Wolf & Tiedeken, LLC
Ken Vines, Wyoming Insurance Department
Dr. Jack Glode, Moderator, Wyoming Health Care Commission
Click here for full Speaker Biographies
For more information, please contact Brynna Pietz at bpietz@cgood.org.
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