The Massachusetts Hospital Association announced on Nov. 20 that all Massachusetts hospitals will adopt a uniform policy to not charge patients or insurers for certain serious adverse events as defined by the National Quality Forum (NQF), including wrong-site surgeries and serious medication errors. In doing so, Massachusetts becomes the second state in the nation, after Minnesota, to take this voluntary action.
The policy, to be put into effect in early 2008, is based on nationally accepted definitions and will cover nine rare but serious adverse events and any subsequent care needed to manage those events, including surgery on wrong body part or on wrong patient, wrong surgical procedure, and medication error injury. Read the press release.
