Eliot Engel: “HR 663, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, is important legislation that holds great promise to reduce…”

“HR 663, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, is important legislation that holds great promise to reduce medical errors. This legislation will allow medical errors to be reported so we can learn from mistakes and hopefully prevent future errors from occurring. By allowing errors or near misses to be reported anonymously it takes away the fear many providers have in regards to reporting errors. I am particularly pleased that the legislation creates the Medical Information Technology Assessment Board which will work in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services to develop national interoperability standards. I was pleased to work with the Committee to get this provision included in the bill. These national standards will allow all aspects of health care technology to become compatible. Thus, computers, hand held electronic charts and other new devices that hold a variety of medical information, including laboratory and radiology results, pharmacy orders, etc, will all be compatible. This compatibility will greatly reduce medical errors. Further, the legislation authorizes grants to test the interoperability standards.”