Reporting of Medical Errors Urged

A survey of more than 1,000 American adults finds the majority believe doctors and hospitals should be forced to report medical errors. Those surveyed also say there should be just a limited immunity or no immunity at all for health care providers committing the errors.

The study, by TNS Intersearch Healthcare Services Group in Atlanta, indicates 71 percent of respondents favor some type of mandatory reporting of errors with varying levels of immunity. Thirty percent support mandatory reporting with no immunity and 27 percent say immunity should be offered only to doctors and hospitals that follow practice guidelines.

Only 14 percent support mandatory reporting with blanket immunity. Another 14 percent favor voluntary reporting of medical errors in which the information reported would be made available to Congress and supervisory agencies but not to the general public.

The survey of adults 50 and older also shows there is no clear majority opinion on how to pay for a prescription benefit in Medicare, the federal health care program for seniors. Health policy experts in Washington say the baby boomer generation needs to be actively involved in planning for Medicare, which is targeted to go broke in the next 20 years or so.

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