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By Mr. Coughlin of Dedham, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2072) of Robert K. Coughlin and others for legislation to require the reporting of certain medical errors. Public Health. |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
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By Mr. Coughlin of Dedham, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2072) of Robert K. Coughlin and others for legislation to require the reporting of certain medical errors. Public Health. |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Subsection (e) of Section 16L of Chapter 6A of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting the following subsection:—
(i) no later than October 1, 2007, the council shall promulgate regulations that create a list of “never events”, so-called. The council shall update the list annually, based upon guidelines developed by the National Quality Forum, and other patient safety and medical quality experts. Reporting of each never event shall be included in the consumer website created by subsection (h) of this section. Initial publication of the never event occurrences on the consumer website shall occur no later than 1 year following the date of implementation of this section. The website shall identify both the never events and the facilities at which each occurred, but shall not include any other identifying information including but not limited to any of the health care professionals, facility employees, or patients involved.
SECTION 2. Section 51 of Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting the following subsection:- A hospital licensed under this chapter shall report each never event occurrence listed in regulations promulgated by authority of subsection (e)(i) of section 16E of Chapter 6A, to the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction, the Department of Public Health, the Board of Registration in Medicine’s Patient Care Assessment division, and the Health Care Quality and Cost Council, as soon as is reasonably and practically possible, but no later than 15 working days after discovery of the never event. Any licensed hospital in the Commonwealth, which does not comply with this section and the rules and regulation set forth by the department may have its license revoked or suspended by said department, be fined up to $1,000 per day per violation, or both.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.