The Financial and Human Cost of Medical Error: How Massachusetts Leveraged New Data to Make the Case for a Statewide Action Plan to Improve Patient Safety
The Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety completed two studies aimed at understanding the financial and human toll of medical error. This session shares those recent findings, and proposes a coordinated response to accelerate safety improvement.
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In 2019, the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety—a Massachusetts state agency—completed two studies aimed at understanding the financial and human toll of medical error in the state. The Center used a peer-reviewed methodology to identify tens of thousands of preventable instances of medical error using health insurance claims and also estimated the cost of preventable harm in the state for a single year. A separate study, which led off with a phone survey of 5,000 Massachusetts households, documented many long-lasting physical, emotional and financial impacts of medical error on patients and families. These combined research findings led to the convening of a new Massachusetts Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium through which providers, payers, researchers, patients, policymakers and other stakeholders have joined together to develop a “Roadmap to Safety” for improving safety across the state’s care continuum. This presentation will describe both the research and the strategic planning process and offer a preview of the action steps that Massachusetts will take to achieve the vision and goals set forth in the Roadmap.