Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much, Dick. I also want to just take a moment out here to thank Dr. Bill Richardson of the Kellogg…”

“Thank you very much, Dick. I also want to just take a moment out here to thank Dr. Bill Richardson of the Kellogg Foundation for the Institute of Medicine report, and all those others who worked with him on it. It was a terrific document. Now, let's talk about what we can do at the Federal level. First, I'm signing an executive memorandum this morning directing our health care quality task force to analyze the Institute of Medicine study and to report back to me, through the Vice President, within 60 days about the ways we can implement their recommendations. I'm also calling on the task force to evaluate the extent to which medical errors are caused by misuse of medications and medical devices and to develop additional strategies to reduce these errors. Second, I want the Federal Government to lead by example. So I'm instructing the Government agencies that administer health plans for 85 million Americans to take an inventory of the good ideas out there now to reduce medical errors. They should apply those techniques to the health programs they administer and do so in a way that protects patient privacy. As a first step, I'm announcing today that each of the more than 300 private health plans participating in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program now will be required to institute quality improvement and patient safety initiatives. And I want to thank Janice Lachance, the head of our Office of Personnel Management, who had responsibility for figuring out how we were going to do this in record time. [Laughter] Third, ongoing research to enhance patient safety, to reduce patient errors, is absolutely critical. So we're increasing our investment in this area. Yesterday I signed legislation reauthorizing the Agency for Health Care Quality and Research in providing $25 million for research to improve health care quality and prevent medical errors. Through the work of the agency, we're also engaging our partners at the State level. In March we'll convene the first national conference with State health officials to promote best practices in preventing medical errors. And I want to thank Dr. John Eisenberg for his leadership of that agency. Finally, I'm directing my budget and health care teams to develop quality and patient safety initiatives for next year's budget so that we can ensure we're doing all we can to combat this problem. I want next year's budget to provide the largest investment to eliminate medical errors, improve quality, and enhance patient safety we've ever offered. The Institute of Medicine's report makes clear that a systematic approach to reducing medical errors gives us the best chance of success. Years ago, we took that approach in aviation, and we've dramatically reduced errors and saved lives. By working together, we can achieve the same goals in the health care industry. The American people deserve this, and we intend to provide it. I am committed to working with all these people in partnership to do our part to save lives in needless medical errors, to make the best health care system in the world even better in the new century. Thank you very much.”