Clinton task force to seek reduction in medical errors

December 7, 1999
Web posted at: 8:23 a.m. EST (1323 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton on Tuesday will order a federal task force to come up with recommendations within 60 days on how to prevent medical errors and increase patient safety, CNN has learned.

The president's action, expected to be announced in a Rose Garden ceremony, follows a study released last week by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine that said tens of thousands of preventable deaths occur each year in health facilities across the country.

As part of Clinton's order, federal agencies administering health plans must implement error-reduction techniques. Also, health plans serving federal employees must institute improvements in quality control.

MESSAGE BOARD Discuss President Clinton's task force on medical errors and increased patient safety with Dr. Gordon Schiff, director of clinical quality resources at Cook County Hospital, 2:15 p.m. ET.     ALSO Medical errors kill tens of thousands annually, panel says     MESSAGE BOARD Medical errors

The Domestic Policy Council is to develop initiatives for health quality and patient safety, for inclusion in the next federal budget.

The study said the medical mistakes that led to deaths included keeping medicines in toxic concentrations in hospital pharmacies, giving patients doses of mistakenly prescribed drugs and illegible handwriting of drug orders by hospital personnel.

Clinton is expected to praise the American Hospital Association for instituting a campaign to prevent medication errors among its 5,000-member hospitals.