US Senate Approves Bill That Would Create National Patient Safety Database

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US Senate Approves Bill That Would Create National Patient Safety

Database

24 Jul 2005 Medical News Today

The Senate on Thursday by voice vote approved a bill... (S 544) that

would establish a national patient safety database to encourage the

reporting of medical errors, CQ Today reports (CQ Today, 7/21). The

measure, sponsored by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), would establish a

legal framework to log error reports and develop an HHS database to

catalog reports and identify trends. It also would provide new legal

protections for new information in the patient safety reporting

system. The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved

a version of the bill (HR 3205) (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report,

7/21). The House and Senate bills were negotiated by Senate Health,

Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Enzi (R-Wyo.)

and committee ranking member Kennedy (D-Mass.) " with the

understanding that the legislation would not shield information now

available to lawyers for use in court cases, " CQ Today reports. House

Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) said he

expects the bill to quickly pass the House (CQ Today, 7/21).

" Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org.