The National Quality Forum (NQF) Board yesterday approved updates to its list of serious reportable events, including three care management events and one radiologic event for a total list of 29 events that hospitals, office-based practices, ambulatory surgery centers, and skilled nursing facilities should report. First instituted in 2002, the list includes preventable errors or events, such as wrong-site surgery, healthcare-acquired ulcers, patient falls, and serious medication errors in which healthcare institutions publicly report with the goal of improved overall quality. Currently, more than half of the states use the NQF-endorsed list of serious reportable events in their public reporting programs, according to the NQF. The four new additions are the following: death or serious injury of a neonate associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy; patient death or serious injury resulting from the irretrievable loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen; patient death or serious injury resulting from failure to follow up or communicate laboratory, pathology, or radiology test results; and death or serious injury of a patient or staff associated with the introduction of a metallic object into the MRI area. Because NQF's standards are based on voluntary consensus, any organization can request an appeal of any of the 29 serious reportable events with the deadline of July 12. Press release