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PRINTER'S NO. 1039
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
204
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY FABRIZIO, ROZZI, COHEN, READSHAW, DONATUCCI,
O'BRIEN, BISHOP, MURT, V. BROWN, DiGIROLAMO, HENNESSEY,
FRANKEL, VEREB, DUSH, SONNEY, CALTAGIRONE, LONGIETTI,
McNEILL, KINSEY, SCHLOSSBERG, THOMAS, MARSICO, SCHREIBER,
PICKETT, BROWNLEE, MILLARD, YOUNGBLOOD, PAYNE, O'NEILL,
SCHWEYER, D. COSTA, ROSS, WATSON, GIBBONS, GILLEN AND
MAHONEY, MARCH 31, 2015
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 31, 2015
A RESOLUTION
Designating the month of March 2015 as "Patient Safety Awareness
Month" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, An education and awareness-building campaign for
improving patient safety is conducted in March of each year by
health care organizations and communities worldwide; and
WHEREAS, Patient safety is the freedom from accidental injury
due to medical care or medical errors and is vital to high
quality medical care; and
WHEREAS, The landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine study, "To
Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System," helped launch the
patient safety movement by reporting that medical errors lead to
the deaths of as many as 98,000 people each year and that
medical errors relating to hospitalization cost between $17
billion and $29 billion annually; and
WHEREAS, The nation has made important progress in advancing
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patient safety awareness since the release of the study,
including developing reporting systems and establishing national
data collection standards; and
WHEREAS, On July 29, 2005, the Patient Safety and Quality
Improvement Act of 2005 was signed into law and authorized the
creation of patient safety organizations, with the goal of
improving patient safety by encouraging voluntary and
confidential reporting of events that adversely affect patients
around the country; and
WHEREAS, Currently, there are 83 patient safety organizations
nationwide in 30 states, including Pennsylvania, according to
the United States Department of Health and Human Services; and
WHEREAS, In 2002, the Commonwealth signed into law the
Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (Mcare) Act to
address patient safety and medical professional liability
insurance reform and established the Medical Care Availability
and Reduction of Error (Mcare) Fund; and
WHEREAS, In addition, the Medical Care Availability and
Reduction of Error (Mcare) Act established the Patient Safety
Authority with the assigned mission of enhancing patient safety
in this Commonwealth's health care facilities through data
analysis and collaboration; and
WHEREAS, The Patient Safety Authority is committed, in
partnership with patients and providers, to continually improve
patient safety through the reduction of medical errors; and
WHEREAS, The Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error
(Mcare) Act has specific patient safety requirements; and
WHEREAS, The Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error
(Mcare) Act requires medical facilities, including acute care
hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities and birthing centers
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to implement patient safety plans, appoint patient safety
officers and establish patient safety committees; and
WHEREAS, In June 2004, the Commonwealth began implementing a
Statewide mandatory reporting system for patient safety events
involving the clinical care of patients; and
WHEREAS, All hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities,
birthing centers and abortion facilities licensed by the
Commonwealth report through the Pennsylvania Patient Safety
Reporting System; and
WHEREAS, In 2012, more than 235,000 reports were made by
hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities; 96.5% of these
reports did not involve patient harm, according to the 2013
National Healthcare Quality Report; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania was the first state to require the
reporting of both patient safety events that cause harm and
those events, such as near misses and unsafe conditions, that do
not result in patient harm; and
WHEREAS, While measures to improve patient safety have been
successfully put in place, the goal of patient safety is yet to
be fully achieved; and
WHEREAS, To further ongoing efforts to improve patient
safety, health care providers are committed to a collaborative,
meaningful, long-term approach to ensure greater patient safety
in the delivery of health care in this Commonwealth and
throughout the country, and to develop and promote communication
tools for safer health care and the use of quality measures
based on evidence-based guidelines; and
WHEREAS, The goals and ideals of "Patient Safety Awareness
Month" are to focus attention on the need to improve the safety
of medical care, recognize the safety innovations generated by
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frontline medical staff, celebrate patient safety successes,
encourage the medical community to adopt best practices that
increase patient safety, encourage patients to learn approaches
to improve the safety of their health care, promote research to
identify effective solutions to patient safety-related problems
and to acknowledge those individuals who have dedicated their
time and talent to help promote patient safety; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the
month of March 2015 as "Patient Safety Awareness Month" in
Pennsylvania and recognize and reaffirm the Commonwealth's
commitment to promoting patient safety through education
programs, supporting research and expanding access to safe
medical treatment.
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