For more than five years, the Academy and other medical groups have tried to convince Congress physicians would gladly report medical errors if their confidentiality were protected … if they could be assured the long arm of the law wouldn't come after them for their voluntary reports. The years of lobbying bore fruit July 27, when the House of Representatives passed the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, identical to a Senate-passed bill, S. 544.
President Bush has scheduled a July 29 ceremony for signing the bill into law.
"It's a win for medicine, it's a win for family medicine," AAFP Board Chair Michael Fleming, M.D., of Shreveport, La., said during a presentation on advocacy at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students during its July 27 - 30 meeting here. "We -- along with the AMA -- have been working on that bill for years."
The legislation calls for the establishment of patient safety organizations to which health professionals can voluntarily and confidentially report medical errors.
The bill would free family physicians to report errors with no fear of legal retribution, Kevin Burke, director of the AAFP Government Relations Division, said in an interview. "It's logical to think many errors may start with primary care. Information goes from a primary care office to a surgeon or hospital, and mistakes can be made. This law will let physicians begin to change systems -- to exchange information about errors and find ways to prevent them from recurring."
Family physician and AMA President J. Edward Hill, M.D., of Tupelo, Miss., told National Conference participants during his plenary address at the conference's opening session, "The House passed the patient safety bill we've all been fighting for. There's no reason we can't report medical errors now. We've got to transform medicine."
