Ind. Outpatient Surgery Centers' Medical Errors Increase

INDIANAPOLIS─ Indiana surgery centers, along with hospitals saw a 24 percent increase in medical errors, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Errors such as allowing patients to develop bed sores, objects left in patients after surgery and surgery on the wrong body part topped the Medical Error Reporting System’s list.

The increase in error reports, the Indiana State Department of Health said, could be because of the increased awareness among health providers to track and report mistakes, the newspaper reported.

"By them being more diligent in watching for these events, you will see an increase in reported events," Terry Whitson, assistant commissioner for health-care regulatory services for the Department of Health, told the Indy Star.

Indiana is not the only state seeing an error increase, Minnesota’s errors jumped from 99 to 106 over a one year period.

The error reports are intended to improve the quality of care by making patients and health-care professional aware of  the types errors and their cause, Indiana officials told the paper.

Clarian Health, which reports for several Indiana hospitals, said they try to reduce errors by carefully analyzing mistakes and using them as an opportunity to improve the system.

The Indianapolis Star reported reduction of error efforts have been made on several accounts, such as providing hospitals with financial incentives for error reduction. Other efforts included plans from Medicare and commercial insurers to stop reimbursing for certain medical mistakes.

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Source: Indianapolis Star