MORIARTY / GREENSTEIN / CONAWAY / GREENWALD / CRUZ-PEREZ BILL TO COMBAT HOSPITAL ERRORS SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOV. CORZINE

MORIARTY / GREENSTEIN / CONAWAY / GREENWALD / CRUZ-PEREZ BILL TO COMBAT HOSPITAL ERRORS SIGNED INTO LAW BY GOV. CORZINE

(TRENTON) – Legislation Assembly members Paul Moriarty, Linda Greenstein, Herb Conaway, Lou Greenwald and Nilsa Cruz Perez sponsored to combat hospital medical errors was signed into law today by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

The law (A-1264/3371/3633) requires the state to publicly report preventable patient errors at New Jersey hospitals, including foreign object left in a body after a medical procedure, postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma, postoperative sepsis, accidental puncture or laceration and surgery performed on the wrong body part or patient.

Moriarty (D-Gloucester/Camden) said the bill would allow the public to make more informed health care and entice poorer performing hospitals to improve patient safety.

“Patients and families have a right to know which hospitals have the higher and lowest error rates so they can compare and make responsible health care choices,” Moriarty said. “Consumers deserve meaningful health quality information and that’s what this law will give them.”

The bill also prohibits hospitals and doctors from charging a patient or insurance company for certain medical errors and hospital-acquired conditions.

“Patients rightly expect that their safety and wellbeing will be protected when they visit a hospital,” said Moriarty. “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.”

“Providing the public with information about medical errors at each hospital will increase transparency for consumers and ensure patients are informed about the facility where they and their families seek medical care,” said Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer). “People can find out all sorts of safety information about cars and household appliances. They should be able to access that same information about hospitals.”

“Hospital-specific reporting will improve patient safety and be more even-handed for hospitals because it will be limited to truly preventable conditions while providing the state with the means to track incidence rates, transmission and reduction of these conditions,” said Conaway (D-Burlington/Camden), a practicing physician.

“When preventable medical mistakes occur, hospitals should not be rewarded,” said Greenwald (D-Camden). “Denying payment for these types of errors will send a message loud and clear: when dealing with matters of life and death we will not tolerate any margin of error.”

“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 law prohibits the hospitals from charging patients and or any third party payer for costs associated with any of the following conditions or events subject to the hospital acquired condition:

• Transfusion reaction;

• Air embolism;

• Foreign object left during a procedure;

• Surgery on the wrong side, body part or person; or

• Wrong surgery performed on a patient.

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