***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE*** Assembly Dems on New Law Combating Hospital Medical Errors

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

ASSEMBLY DEMS ON NEW LAW COMBATING HOSPITAL MEDICAL ERRORS

(PLAINSBORO) - Assembly members Paul D. Moriarty, Linda R. Greenstein and Herb Conaway, M.D. today issued a multimedia package on a new law they sponsored to help prevent hospital medical errors.

The law (A-1264/3371/3633) was signed by Gov. Jon S. Corzine during a public ceremony at AARP New Jersey headquarters. It requires the state Department of Health and Senior Services to include hospital-specific data on 14 patient safety indicators in the agency's annual Hospital Performance Report that is available to the public.  The law also prohibits hospitals and doctors from billing a patient or insurance company for specific types of medical errors and hospital-acquired conditions.

The sponsors said the law enables the public to make more informed decisions about their health care options while encouraging poorly performing hospitals to improve patient safety.

The multimedia package consists of a video press release on the bill signing, audio of same and a transcript of statements from the sponsors.

The video can be accessed directly via our Web site - www.assemblydems.com - or by clicking here.

The audio file is available upon request.

A transcript of sponsor statements is appended below:

Assemblyman Paul D. Moriarty (D-Gloucester):

"Quite frankly, hospitals need to be held accountable for their preventable medical errors. And this bill properly shifts the financial burden for preventable medical errors away from the victim of the medical error and to the hospital facility that creates the error."

Assemblywoman Linda R. Greenstein (D-Middlesex):

"What we're going to do is make available to the pubic information on hospital errors and patient safety.  This is something up to now - here in New Jersey and most other states - that's available only in a very general way. You can find out some statistics on how our state is doing. Well now, you'll be able to find out how individual hospitals are doing."

Assemblyman Herb Conaway, M.D. (D-Burlington):

"As a physician, as a physician-scientist - a  medical scientist - myself and my colleagues, we are always interested in getting data that will help us make, in consultation with patients, the best decisions for patients and their health care."

The law passed the Legislature last spring and takes effect on February 27, 2010.

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