If they are called “never events,” why do they happen so often?
California hospitals reported 1,002 events of serious medical harm done to patients in their care between July 2007 and May. The disclosures are the first required under a 2006 law.
The statute requires hospitals to report 28 categories of serious mistakes to the state Department of Public Health. The errors are dubbed “never events” because they are considered preventable and are so serious that many consumer and health advocates contend they should never occur.
We commend the disclosures and the law that required them. The most common reported occurrence was bedsores so severe that they exposed muscle or bone. The second most common was objects being left in patients after surgery. There is no better way to pressure hospitals into avoiding errors such as those than to make them public.
We are appalled, however, that the law does not require the information to be posted on the Internet until 2015. What could be more anachronistic? State officials say they hope to begin posting it on the Web sooner than that. Good, get on with it.
In the meantime, we urge quick passage of AB 2146 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles. It would add California to the list of four states that prohibit hospitals from charging patients or their insurers for care resulting in preventable medical errors. In three other states, hospital associations have voluntarily said their members will not do so.
Feuer's original bill would have prevented hospitals and physicians from charging for any of the 28 reportable events. That sparked concern in the California Medical Association and other groups and may have made it impossible to win passage.
Feuer, with the agreement of consumer health advocates, has pared his measure to cover only the eight preventable errors for which the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services will refuse reimbursement. The amended bill would allow doctors, but not hospitals, to seek repayment for services that result in serious errors. Feuer says that if his bill is passed he will monitor progress carefully and introduce stricter legislation if necessary.
It's a start. The sooner never means never, the better.
