New York's Senator
CHARLES E. SCHUMER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 29, 2001

SCHUMER: PREVENTABLE MEDICAL ERRORS PUT THOUSANDS OF NEW YORK PATIENTS AT RISK

Senator Unveils Plan To Help New York City and Long Island HospitalsAcquire State-of-the-Art Computer Technology That Can Dramatically Reduce Errors

Standing with patients vulnerable to life-threatening medication errors, US Senator Charles E. Schumer today unveiled a plan to help financially-strapped hospitals in New York metropolitan area reduce preventable medical errors by up to 70%. By helping New York City and Long Island hospitals acquire state-of-the-art computer systems to dramatically reduce human error, Schumer's bill could save literally thousands of lives.

"Medical errors cost more lives every year than car accidents or even breast cancer, but unlike these killers, they're often completely preventable," said Schumer. "In an era of unprecedented medical advances, it's tragic that illegible handwriting and decimal-point errors take thousands of lives. If there were a cure to breast cancer, we'd pay whatever it cost. There is a cure for medical errors - and it's time we paid the price. With people's lives at risk, we've got to do better than pens, paper and aging filing cabinets. "

Medical errors are the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States with as many as 98,000 people dying each year, according to a study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Common causes of errors include illegible handwriting, drug overdoses resulting from decimal-point errors or unknown drug interactions - all of which can be fatal to the patient. Medication errors alone cause 7,000 deaths a year and cost hospitals nationwide an estimated $2 billion in additional costs. Overall, between lost income, household production, disability and health care costs, it is estimated that medical errors cost the nation between $17 billion and $29 billion every year.

According to Schumer estimates based on the IOM study and other independent data, approximately 4% of all hospital admissions in New York State experience an adverse event of some kind - roughly 58% of which are attributable to medical errors. This error rate would translate into approximately 57,000 patients in state hospitals experiencing medical errors every year.

While most medical errors are easily avoidable, the information technologies needed to eliminate them are too expensive for financially-strapped hospitals to purchase. Computer physician order entry systems (CPOEs), in which doctors enter prescription information into a computer, cost roughly $2 million to buy and $500,000 annually to maintain. By instantly checking for potential problems, CPOEs can reduce overall error rates by 55-70% and serious medication errors up to 88%. Only 5% of hospitals nationwide, however, have been actually able to purchase them.

In New York City and Long Island, tight budget constraints have put CPOEs out of reach for most hospitals. Budgets at New York City hospitals, for example, are bursting at the seams, with the median operating margin for the city's 36 non-speciality, non-municipal hospitals falling from .1% in 1995 to -1.6% in 2000. The forecast is even more grim for 2001, when city hospitals face across the board hikes in major expenses, from a 5-7% jump in labor costs to a 9% increase in the cost of treating the uninsured. As a result, according to the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), only 39% of hospitals in the New York metropolitan area have any type of CPOE and many of the ones that do have older, less accurate systems.

"Hospitals across New York City and Long Island are so strapped for cash that they can't afford to purchase these life-saving technologies," said Schumer. "It's time we gave them the resources they need to bring their information systems into the 21^st Century."

Schumer's plan, introduced as legislation in the Senate earlier this month, would authorize a five-year, $355 million grant program to provide hospitals with funds to purchase new information systems. The funding - which would cover up to 80% of the costs associated with implementing new systems - would be used to purchase computer hardware and software, install the new systems, and provide and education and training to hospital staff. The grant program would give special consideration to urban and rural hospitals like those in New York that demonstrate the most urgent need.

In addition, Schumer's legislation would:

1. Establish a three-year, $33 million demonstration project for skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies to develop, purchase and implement information technology systems.
2. Charter an independent advisory board consisting of experts in health information technology, quality improvement, and medical records privacy. The board would test standards for the systems and advise on grant applications and future reimbursement for information technology expenses.
3. Instruct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, by the conclusion of the grant program, to implement a reimbursement system through Medicare for the costs of the new technology.

"This bill would provide a sorely-needed dose of technology to our
hospitals," said Schumer. "In doing so, it will dramatically reduce medical errors, save lives, and provide patients with the peace of mind and security they need when they go to the hospital to fight serious illnesses."

"Most New York hospitals are struggling financially due to funding cutbacks and unfair payment practices by HMOs, and they often cannot afford to invest in expensive information technologies that would help reduce medical errors and improve patient safety," said GNYHA President Ken Raske, who joined Schumer at an event to announce the bill. "Senator Schumer's bill will help hospitals and other providers invest in technologies that will benefit patients for years to come."

Dr. Sig Ackerman, CEO of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Arthur Levin, Director of the Center for Medical Consumers, and patients who are at high-risk for medical errors joined Schumer and Raske at the press conference.

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