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Florida hospital safety difficult to track

Hospital Safety Connection, September 29, 2004

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Patients at Sarasota (FL) Memorial Hospital are concerned about their safety and have criticized the state for not disclosing hospital errors, the Herald Tribune reported.

Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration enforces state law and records hospital problems. But consumers have no way to check error rates for healthcare facilities. Errors usually only become public when state regulators take disciplinary action.

"It's easier to find information on a new car or a new toaster than it is to find information on a healthcare organization," Mark Forstneger, a spokesman for the national Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) told the Herald Tribune. "Healthcare quality reporting is still in its infancy."

Sarasota Memorial recently notified the JCAHO about medical errors at its facility, including wrong medication given to cardiac patients. The JCAHO doesn't require hospitals to report mistakes, but to investigate where things went wrong to prevent further mistakes.

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