Hospitals Won't Bill Never Events

Fifty two percent of hospitals that responded to the Washington-based Leapfrog Hospital "Quality and Safety Survey" — a national hospital quality rating tool — indicated they have adopted the Leapfrog Never Events policy, a list of actions they pledge to take whenever a "never event" — a rare medical error that should never happen to a patient — occurs.

According to the survey, hospitals pledged to:

• Apologize to the patient and/or family affected by the never event
• Report the event to at least one of the following agencies: the Joint Commission (Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.), a state reporting program for medical errors
• Perform a root cause analysis, consistent with instructions from the chosen reporting agency
• Waive all costs directly related to the serious reportable adverse event

The following percentages of hospitals responded that they agree to the policy:

• 59 percent of small hospitals (1-100 beds)
• 53 percent of medium hospitals (101-250 beds)
• 48 percent of large hospitals (251+ beds)