MORIARTY/GREENSTEIN/CONAWAY/GREENWALD/CRUZ-PEREZ BILL TO REQUIRE HOSPITAL-BY-HOSPITAL MEDICAL ERROR REPORTING PASSES ASSEMBLY

MORIARTY/GREENSTEIN/CONAWAY/GREENWALD/CRUZ-PEREZ BILL TO REQUIRE STATE TO REPORT HOSPITAL-BY-HOSPITAL MEDICAL ERRORS PASSES ASSEMBLY

Measure Also Would Bar Charging Patients & Insurance Companies for Preventable Mistakes

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assembly members Paul Moriarty, Linda Greenstein, Lou Greenwald and Nilsa Cruz-Perez sponsored to require the state to publicly report medical errors made at each hospital and prohibit hospitals from charging for preventable mistakes was released today passed the Assembly.

The bill (A-1264/3371/3633) is designed to encourage less medical errors while improving consumer safety and knowledge.
It was released by the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee.

"Patients rightly expect that their safety and wellbeing will be protected when they visit a hospital," said Moriarty (D-Gloucester).  "When that expectation is invalidated because of a medical error that should have never occurred, the hospital where the error was made - not the patient - should be on the hook."

The legislation would require the Department of Health and Senior Services to annually and publicly report hospital-specific data for serious medical mistakes. 

"Requiring the state to provide the public with hospital-specific data on medical errors at each facility would increase transparency for consumers and ensure they're informed about the facility where they seek medical care," said Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer). 

"Hospital-specific reporting would improve patient safety and yet be even-handed for hospitals because it would be limited to truly preventable conditions," said Conaway (D-Burlington/Camden).

"Hospitals should not be compensated when they make life-threatening mistakes," said Greenwald (D-Camden).  "Prohibiting payment for preventable medical errors sends a clear-cut message to hospitals that the utmost care must be paid to every patient undergoing a medical procedure."

"Unfortunately, medical mistakes occur, but the patient should have peace of mind that they will not have to pay the price for preventable hospital errors that result in serious health conditions," said Cruz-Perez (D-Camden). 

The sponsors said that the bill would impose the same requirements used by the federal government to determine when to refuse Medicare reimbursements to Hospitals for certain preventable medical mistakes and conditions.
The bill would prohibit hospitals from charging patients and insurance companies for costs associated with the following hospital-acquired conditions:

• Transfusion reaction;
• Air embolism;
• Foreign object left in the body during a procedure;
• Surgery on the wrong side, body part or person; or
• Wrong surgery performed on a patient.

The measure was released 76 to 1.  It now goes to the Senate for further consideration. 

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