Press Release of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

Boxer Urges California Hospitals to Redouble Efforts to Prevent Medical Errors  

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wrote to California hospital CEOs today to draw attention to successful efforts to reduce medical errors, which are the third leading cause of death in this country.  

“This week, I received some exciting news that I wanted to share with you – hospitals taking advantage of new opportunities available under the Affordable Care Act have saved at least 50,000 lives since 2010 by reducing preventable medical errors,” Senator Boxer wrote. “In fact, according to the new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, efforts to improve patient safety have resulted in 1.3 million fewer medical errors, saving approximately $12 billion in health care costs.” 

In the letter, Boxer encouraged the CEOs to demonstrate their commitment to patient safety by actively participating in the Partnership for Patients, a program funded under the Affordable Care Act to improve the quality and safety of hospital care with the goal of reducing preventable medical errors nationwide. 

Earlier this year, Boxer released a report detailing the most common and harmful errors at our nation’s hospitals and what hospitals in California are doing to prevent them.  

The full text of today’s letter follows: 

December 4, 2014  

This week, I received some exciting news that I wanted to share with you – hospitals taking advantage of new opportunities available under the Affordable Care Act have saved at least 50,000 lives since 2010 by reducing preventable medical errors. In fact, according to the new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, efforts to improve patient safety have resulted in 1.3 million fewer medical errors, saving approximately $12 billion in health care costs.  

This progress is encouraging – but much more needs to be done to prevent medical errors. Recent research has shown that mistakes in hospitals are the third leading cause of death, killing between 210,000 and 440,000 Americans every year.  

I continue to urge all California hospitals to actively participate in the Partnership for Patients, a public-private partnership created under the Affordable Care Act that works to share best practices in reducing preventable medical errors. Further, if you have not already done so, please respond to my medical errors survey with the actions your hospital or hospital system is taking to reduce the 9 most common preventable medical errors, by emailing medicalerrorprevention@boxer.senate.gov:  

• Adverse Drug Events;
• Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections;
• Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections;
• Injuries from Falls and Immobility;
• Obstetrical Adverse Events;
• Pressure Ulcers;
• Surgical Site Infections;
• Venous Thrombosis; and
• Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.  

I am pleased that more than 90 percent of hospitals have responded to my survey, and I would appreciate receiving updates from you about practices you find are saving lives. For example, I have heard from many hospitals that simply elevating a patient’s head 30-45 degrees can help avoid ventilator-associated pneumonia. Yet other categories of medical errors, such as adverse drug events, may be more difficult to address. Please review my staff report on medical errors and keep me informed about the steps you are taking.  

If you or I were on the street corner and saw someone about to step off the curb and get hit by a bus, what would we do? We would pull them back from disaster. The same is true when it comes to protecting patients and ensuring they are not victims of needless errors. 

Sincerely,  

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator 

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