Action on patient safety will help achieve the health care system we deserve

Hill January 9, 2022
Karen Wolk Feinstein and Martin J. Hatlie

The United States spends more on health care than any country in the world, but it has made almost no progress in reducing medical error harm. Best estimates indicate 210,000 – 400,000 patients continue to die each year from preventable harm in U.S. hospitals alone, a death toll that positions medical error as the third largest cause of death. Unsafe care in the form of poor infection control or lack of personal protective equipment has also fueled preventable death during the pandemic, including patient and staff losses. Some were by disease and others by an increase in errors.

Twenty years ago, the Institute of Medicine identified medical error as a national priority. Focused initiatives during the Obama administration saved lives,...

Today's Sponsors

Today's Sponsor