Oregon's hospital trade group issued guidelines this week under which the state's 57 hospitals would not charge for care related to serious, preventable mistakes. Qualifying events include "never events" like wrong-site operations, wrong operations, leaving foreign objects inside surgery patients and giving patients the wrong blood type. In general, hospitals won't charge if an event was "preventable and was in control of the hospital," according to a statement from the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The group is abiding by standards set by the Oregon Patient Safety Commission.
The trade group's announcement follows a string of similar announcements by other state hospital associations, including hospitals in Massachusetts, Washington and Minnesota. It also follows on Medicare's decision not to pay for care resulting from never events and other errors that cause serious adverse results.
To learn more about the hospitals' decision:
- read this hospital association press release
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