Patient safety coalition provides reporting principles to IOM

The American Medical Association, more than 90 national provider and health organizations, and national, state and medical specialty associations encouraged the Institute of Medicine to support constructive learning and shared experience in the development of a properly constructed healthcare error reporting system.

The broad coalition - which includes the American Hospital Association, the American Association of Health Plans and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations - invited the Institute of Medicine to use "General Principles for a Patient Safety Reporting System" as a guide while it develops further reports on the quality of healthcare in the United States and recommends national measures of quality.

The groups emphasized the need to create a non-punitive culture that supports health system error reporting and analyses as positive actions to advance quality. "Otherwise, errors will continue to be hidden for fear of a punitive rather than a constructive response," the organizations said in a joint letter.

The principles also highlight the need for:

•Â Information submitted to reporting systems to be comprehensively analyzed to identify actions that would minimize the risk of reported events recurring.

•Â Confidentiality protections for patients, healthcare professionals and healthcare organizations.

•Â Increased sharing of patient safety information between healthcare organizations and collaboration between healthcare reporting systems.

•Â Clear legal protections for information submitted to patient safety reporting systems to enhance the opportunity to identify trends and implement corrective measures.

The principles previously have been shared with the National Quality Forum, Health Care Financing Administration and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. PR