Governor Corzine Signs Legislation Improving Patient Safety

PRINCETON - In an important step toward even safer health care in New Jersey, Governor Jon S. Corzine today signed legislation requiring public reporting of each hospital's patient safety performance and rates of serious medical errors. 

"New Jersey is a national leader in protecting consumers and promoting quality health care," Governor Corzine said.  "Today, we are enacting legislation that represents an important step forward for the health and safety of our citizens. By doing so, we will be helping people make more informed health care decisions and helping hospitals prevent medical errors." 

The bill, S2471/A1264, requires the Department of Health and Senior Services to publish in its annual New Jersey Hospital Performance Report hospital-specific results on  measures of patient safety.  These measures, which have been endorsed by national experts, include such serious adverse events as objects left inside patients during surgery, accidental cuts and punctures to patients, or hip fractures suffered in a post-surgery fall. 

"While the federal government continues to debate the best form for universal care, we must do everything we can on the State level to ensure patient safety in the health care setting," said Senator Joseph F. Vitale, (D-Middlesex), and Chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.  "By publicizing patient safety data, we can empower health care consumers to make the best choices for themselves and their families, and bring free market principles to bear in creating a safer health care climate in New Jersey.  This new law will encourage underperforming hospitals to do better, and will help patients and their families make informed decisions about their health care." 

"When most people buy a car or a home appliance, they do some research to make sure they're getting the best deal for their money," said Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney, (D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem).  "However, with health care, consumers are essentially left in the dark, unaware of their hospital's track record on even the most basic patient safety indicators which are already collected by the industry and the State.  It's time that we share this information with the public, to let them make the best decisions possible and control their own health care destiny." 

The 2009 New Jersey Hospital Performance Report released later this year will be the first to include the newly available patient safety data. 

"Patients and families have a right to know which hospitals have the higher and lowest error rates so they can compare and make responsible health care choices," said Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester/Camden). "Consumers deserve meaningful health quality information and that's what this law will give them. Patients rightly expect that their safety and wellbeing will be protected when they visit a hospital. When that expectation is invalidated because of a medical error that should have never occurred, the hospital where the error was made - not the patient - should be on the hook." 

Last fall, Governor Corzine convened a Hospital Reporting Work Group, and charged it with developing a public, hospital-specific reporting strategy that built on patient safety legislation proposed in the Senate and Assembly.  Participating in the group were legislative leaders as well as representatives of the AARP, the New Jersey Hospital Association, Health Professionals and Allied Employees Union and New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. 

"Under the Governor's leadership, key stakeholders joined forces to strengthen New Jersey's patient safety protections," said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard. "We know that public reporting of hospital performance improves quality and promotes excellence in patient safety-as we have seen with dramatic decreases in cardiac surgery deaths. This legislation is an important step forward for consumers." 

New Jersey will report numbers of adverse events and rates, by hospital, along with statewide and national comparisons. Fourteen measures were chosen based on work of federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.  

"Providing the public with information about medical errors at each hospital will increase transparency for consumers and ensure patients are informed about the facility where they and their families seek medical care," said Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex/Mercer).  "People can find out all sorts of safety information about cars and household appliances. They should be able to access that same information about hospitals." 

The Legislature also decided to leverage a new policy of nonpayment of errors, used by Medicare, New Jersey's Medicaid program and a growing number of insurance companies, to protect consumers.  Hospitals will now be prohibited from charging consumers and their insurance companies for serious medical errors. 

"Hospital-specific reporting will improve patient safety and be more even-handed for hospitals because it will be limited to truly preventable conditions while providing the state with the means to track incidence rates, transmission and reduction of these conditions," said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, M.D. (D-Burlington/Camden). 

This is the latest in a series of initiatives to improve health care quality through public reporting on performance and health outcomes.  Cardiac Surgery in New Jersey - which reports on patient mortality rates and other performance measures for both hospitals and individual cardiac surgeons - has helped reduce cardiac bypass surgery mortality by more than 50 percent since reporting began. 

"When preventable medical mistakes occur, hospitals should not be rewarded," said Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden).  "Denying payment for these types of errors will send a message loud and clear:  when dealing with matters of life and death we will not tolerate any margin of error." 

The Hospital Performance Report monitors how well hospitals treat heart attack, pneumonia and heart failure patients, and how well they prevent surgical infections.  DHSS also publishes a report on Inpatient Quality Indicators, which are used to measure hospital performance in treating a number of common medical conditions. 

"Unfortunately, medical mistakes occur but the patient should have peace of mind that they will not have to pay the price for preventable hospital errors that result in serious health conditions," said Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden). 

"This landmark legislation addresses many of the concerns that AARP New Jersey raised in the more than two years we worked on this issue: quality, transparency, choice, and the empowerment of health care consumers," Sy Larson, AARP New Jersey State President said. "It is estimated that nationwide 9.3 billion dollars are spent every year in excess charges due to preventable medical errors. Our thanks to the Governor, Commissioner Howard, and all the legislators and community leaders who worked so hard to see this through."

To ensure that New Jersey's patient safety reporting stays current with best practices nationally, the law requires that the Department's Quality Improvement Advisory Committee (QIAC) study and recommend ways to include new patient safety indicators in the public reporting.  QIAC advises DHSS on hospital quality and performance monitoring initiatives. 

"New Jersey's health care consumers have a fundamental right to know whether their hospital is doing everything it can to guarantee patient safety," said Senator Loretta Weinberg, (D-Bergen), Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Health Committee.  "This is probably one of the most important and effective reforms we can enact to ensure the safety and quality of health care in the Garden State.  Through this new law, we can make sure that hospitals feel the pain of lax patient safety in their bottom lines, and do everything they can to reduce medical errors and employee mistakes."  

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