CHICAGO — Flanked by lawmakers and hospital officials, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich yesterday announced a series of reforms aimed at reducing the number of medical errors — an area in which one credit rating agency recently said hospital investment could reap improved ratings.
Blagojevich signed an executive order creating a new Division of Patient Safety and announced a series of other measures, including a proposal to computerize all prescriptions by 2011. The measures are aimed at reducing medical errors that are allegedly responsible for the deaths of 10,000 Americans annually, including 4,000 from Illinois.
Errors in Illinois cost an estimated $1.5 billion annually through higher insurance premiums, higher costs for hospital visits and treatments, higher co-pays, higher insurance rates for doctors, and higher costs of prescription drugs.
“When you go to the doctor, you expect to get the care you need. And doctors and hospitals want to give you the care you need. Your confidence shouldn’t be undermined because you’re worried about someone making a mistake,” the governor said at a news conference at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.
A shift to a computerized prescription system would reduce errors, because doctors could more easily access what other medications patients are taking to avoid adverse drug reactions, and would save time and money by eliminating paperwork.
The new department was charged with working with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to come up with a plan — with guidance from industry officials — to establish a list of recommended practices for health care providers in Illinois to follow.
The group is charged with reviewing what current technology exists to reduce medical errors, what is needed, as well as the costs and funding possibilities. Some ideas proposed include creating a prototype for electronic medical record filing and helping rural hospitals access broadband technology.
The new department may look at providing low-interest loans through the state’s largest bonding conduit, the Illinois Finance Authority, for physicians to purchase technology to access medical databases and patient information.
In May, Fitch Ratings issued a report suggesting that nonprofit hospitals that invest in health information technology aimed at improving patient safety and avoiding medical errors could gain a credit edge over their competitors.
“While improving quality and patient safety has always been a goal of hospitals and health care systems, increasing consumerism, greater scrutiny by state and federal regulators, and increased efforts by third-party payors to tie quality outcomes to reimbursement have resulted in a greater focus on these issues in recent years,” the Fitch report read.
The various methods undertaken by hospitals to improve patient outcomes include implementing electronic medical records filing, which provides quicker access to a patient’s history; computerizing physician order entry, which helps avoid drug errors; and installing picture archiving and communication systems that allow for quicker access to X-rays and other diagnostic tests.
While hospitals in general are increasing their capital spending on health information technology to improve patient outcomes, analysts said the level of attention paid by individual hospitals “will be a differentiating factor in hospital credit quality going forward.”
