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 Patient
Safety – A Priority in Illinois
Medical errors claim the lives of nearly 100,000
patients annually, 4,000 of those being from the
state of Illinois. To reduce the number of lives
taken by medical errors, Governor Rod R Blagojevich
has proposed changes to the healthcare system
of today.
His first proposal was that all healthcare providers
use electronic prescriptions or e-prescribing.
According the American Medical Association, e-prescribing
will decrease the number of medical errors from
between 60-80%. At current, the Institute for
Safe Medicine Practices estimates that pharmacists
place more than 250 million calls to physicians
asking for clarification. More than 3 million
of the 8.8 million adverse drug events in ambulatory
care centers are considered preventable. E-prescriptions
would virtually eliminate the need for clarification
calls. Further, doctors from multiple specialties,
serving the same patient could see what other
medication their patient is taking and thereby
decrease the number of adverse interactions.
Governor Blagojevich also announced the initiation
of a new division of Patient Safety within the
Illinois Department of Public Health. The charge
of this new division is to reduce medical mistakes
and improve patient safety in the state of Illinois.
One area of proposed improvement is to develop
standardized medication practices to reduce adverse
drug effects. The new division of Patient Safety
will also explore:
- Creating a prototype for electronic medical
records for hospital patients
- Assisting rural health facilities gain access
to broadband technology
- Providing low interest loans to physicians
to purchase technology so they can access medical
databases and patient information
The Governor also directed changes to expand
Illinois’ online physician database. The
current database is considered too technical and
difficult to work with. The new database will
encapsulate such information as education background,
residency, practice, legal actions, and expertise
in particular procedures. Additionally, the Governor
also directed changes to the Illinois Nursing
Home database. The revised database will provided
such information as staffing ratios, licensing
information, services they provide and citations
against them.
These formal steps are aimed at making all consumers
of the healthcare system feel more at ease about
their safety when interacting in the system. By
setting up a formal division of Patient Safety,
tangible steps towards decreasing the number of
adverse drug events can occur in a state wide
systematic way regardless of location or financial
backing. The healthcare consumer will now have
a department that they can report issues of adverse
drug events with adequate concerns that those
issues are being tackled by someone.
Preventative steps to resolve these well known
barriers to save healthcare is the most effective
way to provide and ensure safety. There should
be low tolerance for the occurrence of preventable
adverse events within the healthcare system. Actions
taken by the Governor are just the tip of the
iceberg at solving errors that cost lives and
millions of unnecessary dollars.
For more information on how on this topic,
contact our offices to set up an in office presentation.
Referenced By:
Gov. Blagojevich announces sweeping reforms to
improve patient safety: reduce costly medical
errors. Governor proposes computerizing prescriptions
by 2001. Retrieved July 2006 from http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/PrintPressRelease
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