Adverse Events Report

Adverse Events Report

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Adverse events, defined as serious, clearly identifiable and preventable medical errors, are a serious problem in our nation. Learn how The Minnesota Health Action Group has worked to hold Minnesota hospitals accountable for medical errors.

According to the National Quality Forum (NQF) adverse events are serious, clearly identifiable and preventable medical events. The Minnesota Health Action Group pressed hard for state legislation enacted in 2003 that requires Minnesota hospitals to report annually on the frequency of 28 adverse events, making Minnesota the first state to adopt all of the National Quality Forum’s adverse events by legislative action. The legislation requires hospitals not only to report occurrences of each adverse event, but to develop action plans for prevention and improvement. In addition, an annual public report of the performance of Minnesota hospitals is published for consumer use.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) operates under a three-part mission to improve the quality of American health care by:

  • Building consensus on national priorities and goals for performance improvement and working in partnership to achieve them;
  • Endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance; and
  • Promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.

Read the most recent Adverse Events Annual Report.

On behalf of its members and the community, the Minnesota Health Action Group provided seed funding to assist the Minnesota Department of Health in designing their reporting protocol. The Minnesota Health Action Group also convenes discussions with local health plans on how they can work with hospitals to improve performance, use this information to structure their reimbursements to hospitals and promote hospital performance information to consumers.