The Joint Committee on Public Health will hear a number of healthcare quality bills at a hearing tomorrow morning, 10:00 am, in State House room A-2. Included on the list are 3 priority bills of the Consumer Health Quality Council and Health Care For All. Three members of the Consumer Council will testify at the hearing on the following bills:
- S. 878/H. 2138, “An Act to Improve the Delivery of Health Care,” filed by Senator Moore and Representative Provost, requires the use of checklists in hospitals to prevent serious errors that can lead to complication and death. Two checklists that are already widely used and proven effective have been developed by Dr. Atul Gawande (a checklist for surgery) and Dr. Peter Pronovost (a checklist to prevent central-line infections). Based on the success of these checklists, more will surely be developed in the near future, and all hospitals should implement these low-cost, life-saving tools. Read more about Dr. Gawande’s checklist in a blog post from earlier this year.
- S. 909/H. 2084, “An Act to Reduce Medication Errors,” filed by Senator Tucker and Representative Khan, establishes an expert panel to study medication errors in Massachusetts and develop a prioritized list of concrete recommendations for how the Commonwealth can reduce errors. 1.5 million preventable “adverse drug events” (medication errors that cause injury) occur in the United State each year costing billions of dollars across all healthcare settings.
- H. 2139, “An Act to Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections,” filed by Representative Provost, requires hospitals to screen incoming high-risk patients for MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), a bacteria that can easily spread and cause infections among patients, and take precautions with those who test positive to prevent further spreading. 19,000 people die every year from MRSA infections, 85% of which are healthcare-associated. Patients go to the hospital to get better, not to get an infection, and screening is a vital tool to prevent infections.
Read fact sheets and bill text on the HCFA website. Please join us at the hearing and show your support for improving the quality of health care in Massachusetts. For more information, contact Deb Wachenheim, Health Quality Manager, at dwachenheim@hcfama.org or 617-275-2902.
-Deborah Wachenheim
