CORRECTING MISTAKES In an effort to improve public safety, Indiana will now require its hospitals to disclose errors to the public. It is the second state to do so. The State Board of Health's rule focuses on 27 mistakes, including surgery on the wrong body part, objects left in patients during surgery and deaths from contaminated drugs. Hospitals and surgery centers must report such errors within six months of the incident, but the error reports cannot be used in patient lawsuits.
THE VOTERS SPEAK By a 4-to-1 ratio, Oregonians approved a ballot measure in November that expands a state prescription drug discount program to cover all state residents who are without coverage. The program, which provides discounts of up to 60 percent on medications, had been available to 150,000 low-income state residents who are 55 years old or older. Now, 600,000 residents will be eligible, regardless of age or income. Voters in other states were not so generous. Ballot measures in Missouri and California to increase tobacco taxes to expand health care programs for low-income residents failed.
BIG NAME AT THE TOP New Jersey's Commission on Rationalizing Health Care Resources will be headed by Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton University professor who is a leading authority on health care economics. The task for Reinhardt and other members of the panel is to ensure that the state's hospitals and health care services are configured to respond to community needs for high-quality, affordable and accessible care. The panel will provide recommendations on how to improve oversight and accountability of state funds and ways to promote rational uses of state and private health care resources, labor and technology.
