Promoting patient safety: One company's example

Patient safety has become a key issue in health care since the Institute of Medicine (IOM)1 released the report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. This landmark report examined the extent of preventable patient injuries and deaths occurring in US hospitals. It was estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die annually as a result of medical errors and that nearly half were preventable. Subsequent studies2 suggest that the medical error rate is even higher. These statistics are a call to action for case managers to explore creative ways to implement patient safety practices in their systems and procedures.