The issue of transparency in hospitals is not a new one, particularly when errors occur. On the one hand, hospitals prefer not to disclose information that might open them up to liability due to an error that resulted in injury to a patient. Hospitals also argue that allowing it to have a degree of privacy makes patients safer, because they can have internal discussions about what went wrong and fix the problem so that it hopefully will not happen again.
To patients who have been harmed by the negligence of a hospital or its employee, this cloak of secrecy is an unfair impediment to finding answers and accountability. To patient advocate groups, more transparency – not less – makes patients safer.
This is a topical subject both nationally and locally. Nationally, two separate sets of data have been published on hospitals around the nation. First, the website [Hospital Inspections][1], run by the Association of Health Care Journalists, has published federal hospital inspection reports, including 18 reports in Washington.
The substance of some of these reports might seem innocuous (hospital failed to send a required grievance letter in response to a complaint from a patient), while others less so (failing to ensure that all patients received care in a safe setting, including multiple patient safety issues that put patients at risk for harm or potentially death). Overall, patients should be pleased at this increased transparency.
The US Government’s Medicare Program provides the other set of data. It’s recently unveiled “Hospital Compare” program on it’s website [Hospital Compare][2] allows patients to search for and compare hospitals all around the United States in such categories as “Timely & Effective Care” and “Readmissions, Complications & Deaths.” This is a fascinating tool that promotes transparency, and will be more so when it includes more data.
Locally, the Washington state legislature is considering a law that will give hospitals more power to shield evidence of errors. This bill – SB 5666 – will give hospitals virtual immunity because it will allow them to reach out and hide all evidence of any wrongdoing.
Hospitals are supporting this measure as a way for them to properly conduct their internal investigations and improve safety for all patients. What it surely will do is take away a patient and families’ right to know what happen to them, and give them little to no civil recourse because there would be no evidence that could be uncovered to prove the wrongdoing.
Lawyers of civil justice, particularly those affiliated with the Washington State Association for Justice, are fighting this bill vigorously. These are the lawyers, like us, who represent the interests of patients and others injured as a result of the negligence of others including hospitals. Without transparency, those injured people will never get justice.
[1]: http://hospitalinspections.org “Hospital Inspections”
[2]: http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/ “Hospital Compare”
