Incident Reporting Systems and Future Strategies for Patient Safety Improvement

Ever since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its landmark 1999 report, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” there has been a global focus on improving patient safety. Despite the efforts of an entire industry, however, progress has been slow – indeed, the situation may be getting worse.

While the IOM report estimated that as many as 98,000 U.S. patients die annually from medical errors, a 2016 study published in the BMJ shows that medical errors may now be the third-leading cause of death in the United States – claiming 251,000 lives every year.1 If the study’s findings are correct, then only heart disease and cancer kill more people each year than medical errors.

How can this be? Download this white paper to find out!