Friday, August 13, 2010

WSJ Health Blog: "Study Puts Cost of Medical Errors At $19.5 Billion"

In a new piece on the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog, Katherine Hobson writes about a study commissioned by the Society of Actuaries which found that medical errors cost America's economy $19.5 billion in 2008.  This estimate includes "medical costs, costs associated with increased mortality rate and lost productivity, and covers what the authors describe as a conservative estimate of 1.5 million measurable errors. The report estimates the errors caused more than 2,500 avoidable deaths and over 10 million lost days of work."

What better time to revisit our two-week series commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the seminal IOM Report "To Err Is Human?" To see all posts in the series, please click here.
 
To read Hobson's article, please click here.

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