House File 2471 - Introduced HOUSE FILE BY FORD Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays Approved A BILL FOR 1 An Act providing for a research initiative to address certain 2 medical errors. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 6354HH 82 5 rh/nh/8 PAG LIN 1 1 Section 1. PATIENT SAFETY INITIATIVE == MEDICAL ERRORS. 1 2 1. If federal funding is received, the department of 1 3 public health shall establish an initiative to address patient 1 4 safety through the identification of medical errors. The 1 5 initiative shall also address the option of establishing a 1 6 statewide billing policy for health care made necessary by 1 7 preventable medical errors. 1 8 2. The focus of the initiative shall be the development of 1 9 a medical error reporting system that motivates health care 1 10 providers to report medical errors and that maintains 1 11 information reported in a systematic way that is useful to 1 12 health care providers. The reporting system should provide 1 13 that data collected is used to identify and address the 1 14 underlying systemic causes of medical errors, detect system 1 15 weaknesses, and prevent the occurrence of future errors. 1 16 3. The initiative shall emphasize the use of reported 1 17 medical errors not as a basis for blame and liability, but as 1 18 a basis for system improvement and prevention of future 1 19 errors. The system should encourage health care providers to 1 20 equate the reporting of medical errors with the protection of 1 21 patient safety through prevention of avoidable error, rather 1 22 than encourage nonreporting as a means of avoiding legal 1 23 liability. The initiative may utilize exclusive enterprise 1 24 liability, no=fault compensation, no=fault liability, or 1 25 liability limitations to protect health care providers who 1 26 report medical errors that result only in a no=harm event or a 1 27 near miss as means of eliminating the adversarial quality of 1 28 the current liability system. The initiative shall not apply 1 29 to medical errors that involve actions or omissions that 1 30 constitute negligence, recklessness, or intentional 1 31 misconduct. 1 32 4. For the purpose of this section: 1 33 a. "Medical error" means a failure of a planned action to 1 34 be completed as intended or the use of a wrong action to 1 35 achieve an aim. "Medical error" may include a problem in 2 1 practice, products, procedures, or systems. 2 2 b. "Near miss" means an event in which the unwanted 2 3 consequences were prevented through recovery by identification 2 4 and correction of the failure. 2 5 c. "No=harm event" means an event that has occurred but 2 6 resulted in no actual harm although the potential for harm may 2 7 be present. 2 8 EXPLANATION 2 9 This bill directs the department of public health to 2 10 establish an initiative to address patient safety through the 2 11 identification of medical errors if federal funding is 2 12 received and to address the option of establishing a statewide 2 13 billing policy for medical care made necessary by preventable 2 14 medical errors. The focus of the initiative is the 2 15 development of a medical error reporting system that motivates 2 16 health care providers to report medical errors and that 2 17 maintains information reported in a systematic way that is 2 18 useful to health care providers. The reporting system should 2 19 provide that data collected is used to identify and address 2 20 the underlying systemic causes of medical errors, detect 2 21 system weaknesses, and prevent the occurrence of future 2 22 errors. The emphasis of the initiative is the use of reported 2 23 medical errors not as a basis for blame and liability, but as 2 24 a basis for system improvement and prevention of future 2 25 errors. The bill provides that the initiative may utilize 2 26 exclusive enterprise liability, no=fault compensation, 2 27 no=fault liability, or liability limitations to protect health 2 28 care providers who report medical errors that result in a 2 29 no=harm event or a near miss as means of eliminating the 2 30 adversarial quality of the current liability system. The 2 31 initiative is not to apply to medical errors that involve 2 32 actions or omissions that constitute negligence, recklessness, 2 33 or intentional misconduct. 2 34 The bill defines "medical error", "near miss", and "no=harm 2 35 event". 3 1 LSB 6354HH 82 3 2 rh/nh/8