PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

Doctors push for more patient safety program funding

A state hiring freeze leaves a Massachusetts care assessment program out in the cold.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Sept. 8, 2003.

When the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine speaks, people listen.

So when Arnold S. Relman, MD, resigned from his state medical board's patient care assessment committee to protest staff shortages and a work backlog he felt put patients at risk, it garnered a lot of attention. It also spotlighted an innovative patient-safety program and reminded observers that even the most celebrated programs do not always run smoothly.

"We decided to speak out and make waves," said Dr. Relman, who was joined by Mary Anna Sullivan, MD, who also resigned her posts as committee chair and member of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. "We've made some people at the board angry with us."

A prominent supporter of the program is Lucian L. Leape, MD, adjunct professor of health policy and management, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.

"They met with hospital leaders and followed through with them to make sure changes were made after bad things happened," Dr. Leape said. "The objective is not to 'catch people' -- doctors or hospitals -- but to get them to investigate problems and do something about them. ... I know of no state program that is as aggressive with hospitals regarding correcting systems failures."

Created by the Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Reform Act of 1986, the patient care assessment program's purpose is to investigate adverse events at health care institutions in confidential proceedings that are protected from subpoena and discovery. It reviews between 450 and 500 reports annually, evaluates the institutions' investigation of the events, and plans for corrective action.

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