(Washington, D.C.) –
Today, U.S. Senator Patty announced that Washington state will be receiving
four grants from the Department of Health and Human Services to invest in state
programs that work to implement and evaluate patient safety approaches and
medical liability reforms. The investments are part of the patient safety
and medical liability initiative that President Obama announced during a
September 9, 2009 address to a joint session of Congress, and are funded under
the new health care reform law.
“Washington state is
already a national leader in coming together to protect patients, reduce
frivolous lawsuits, and help doctors focus on practicing medicine,” said Senator
Patty Murray. “Our doctors, hospitals, and patients deserve a system that
works. Medical malpractice reform isn’t a silver bullet, but it will help
us to improve patient safety and reduce unnecessary costs. I’m pleased
that Washington state will help lead the nation in this long-term effort.”
Washington
state passed malpractice reform in 2006 by bringing together doctors,
attorneys, insurers, hospitals and patient advocates. The investments awarded
today will help Washington state improve on this effort and help build systems
that can be expanded on at the federal level.
Four Washington state
programs, led by the following individuals, are among only 20 national efforts
to receive grants:
Thomas Gallagher, M.D., University of Washington, Seattle,
WA, $2,972,209
The project creates a
statewide initiative involving communication training for health care workers
and a collaboration between hospitals and a malpractice insurer to improve
adverse event analysis, disclosure, and compensation. The goal is to enhance
the culture of health care communication in order to improve patient safety and
decrease medical malpractice liability.
Dianne Garcia, J.D., Multicare Health System, Tacoma, WA,
$299,985
The project will develop a
plan for implementing an integrated medical liability and patient safety
program based on identifying avoidable patient safety problems, and providing
an acknowledgement, apology, and standardized compensation to patients who have
been harmed or their families.
Karen Domino, M.D., M.P.H., University of Washington,
Seattle, WA, $299,071
This project will develop
and implement patient-friendly shared decision-making tools and processes for
patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery in the University of Washington Health
Care System. Shared decision-making improves patient safety by enhancing
patient understanding and empowering patients to actively participate in the
care.
Cindy Lou Corbett, Ph.D., Washington State University,
Pullman,WA, $298,810
This project will use
stakeholder focus groups to design best practice medication risk management
systems that can be integrated into transitional care. Upon successful
completion, researchers expect to demonstrate that they can integrate
medication risk management efforts into transitional care models to maximize
safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness while reducing medical liability
The
HHS Patient Safety and Medical Liability initiative supports the following:
- Grants to jump-start and evaluate efforts. Three-year
grants of up to $3 million to States and health systems for implementation and
evaluation of patient safety and medical liability demonstrations. - Planning grants. One year grants of up to
$300,000 to States and health systems in order to plan to implement and
evaluate patient safety and medical liability demonstrations. - Review of existing initiatives. In
December 2009, HHS’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) issued a
review of reforms to the medical liability system and their impact on health
care quality, patient safety, and medical liability claims.
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