The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality.
Nancy Oliver became a patient safety activist when her father passed away after suffering from hospital-acquired infections. Her father had successful heart bypass surgery following a mild heart attack.
Ohio
State Disclosure Reports
Consumers Union Documents
- State Hospital Infection Public Reporting Laws
Summary of state laws hospital infection reporting laws.
News Articles
- State hospital reporting to become obsolete? Source: Fierce Healthcare (Thursday December 8, 2011)
Hospital in Ohio–including the Ohio Hospital Association–are supporting the repeal of state law (House Bill 353) in which hospitals disclose their quality data online in the state database called Ohio Hospital Compare, reports Dayton Daily News.
- Hospitals support repeal of data rule Source: Dayton Daily News (Sunday December 4, 2011)
The Ohio Hospital Association is backing repeal of a five-year rule requiring disclosure of hospital quality data on a state website, a step backwards for consumers looking for information about their local hospitals.
- Goodbye to Ohio’s hospital performance comparison website? Source: Medcity (Friday October 28, 2011)
The Ohio Hospital Association is trying to repeal Ohio’s hospital public reporting law that requires disclosure of important patient safety information to Ohio consumers.
- Medical error rate report questioned by Central Ohio hospitals Source: Business First (Friday May 6, 2011)
Ohio hospital executives are objecting to data released by Medicare on medical harm occuring at OH hospitals. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month went live with individual hospital occurrences of eight so-called “never events,” or preventable conditions picked up during a hospitalization.
- Sen. wants no repeat of VA hospital issues in Ohio Source: Chicago Tribune (Tuesday April 26, 2011)
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown held a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to insure that the infection failures be fixed at the Dayton VA hospital where VA investigators found that infection control policies were violated and a dentist failed for years to change gloves or sterilize instruments between patients.
- Reporting surgical fires could improve patient safety in Ohio, experts say Source: Cleveland.com (Tuesday May 11, 2010)
Reporting medical errors, such as surgical fires, to outside agencies can help prevent them, medical safety experts say. But Ohio doesn’t require it.
- Ohio unveils Hospital Compare Web site Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer (Friday January 8, 2010)
The Ohio Hospital Compare site is believed to be the first in the nation to report hospital-specific infection rates caused by antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria and an intestinal bug called clostridium difficile, or c. diff, said Lisa McGiffert of Consumers Union. The state is also the first to publish infections from C-section surgeries.
- Cincinatti story on Hospital Acquired Infections (Video)
Local news coverage of hospital infection stories: Kacia Warren and Nancy Oliver from Ohio.
- OH: Willard woman lost dad to C. diff bacteria
About 50 Ohio hospitals have joined a federally supported project to help stop the spread of the potentially deadly intestinal bacteria. The Ohio Hospital Association and The Ohio State University Medical Center announced last week they will lead an effort to standardize tracking of C. diff infections. Participants will test new prevention methods.
- Medical community collaborates to cut medication errors and infections Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer (Tuesday January 20, 2009)
A group of Ohio business leaders and 24 hospitals has launched what it hopes will become a statewide effort to reduce hospital medication errors and infections. Solutions for Patient Safety, as the effort is called, takes place as the state is preparing to publish hospital quality data, including some infection rates, on the Web for consumers.
Research and Reports
- Rates of C-Difficile infections reported in Ohio
A new Ohio report shows that cases of C-Difficile infections exceed 1,000 every month.
- Ohio publishes rate of c.difficile in state's hospitals
Clostridium difficile is an increasingly important cause of infectious diseases, especially in health care settings. Find reported rates for Ohio acute care hospitals and nursing homes for 2006.
- Ohio Health Committee Approves Hospital Infection Reporting Bill
The Ohio House health Committee has approved legislation by Representative Jim Raussen that requires hospitals to report data on a whole range of health care quality measures, including hospital-acquired infections.
Activists in Ohio
Cathy’s son, Stephen died due to a drug side effect that its maker knew about, but did not disclose to the public.
Cathy of Troy, Ohio
Stories from Ohio
On April 6, 2006, a Cleveland hospital did a kidney transplant on my son with his aunt as the donor. The head of transplant surgery and the head laparoscopic surgeon did the surgery. They ripped the kidney out of the donor, killing the kidney and injuring the donor so badly that she had to have a second surgery to repair the leaks in her and she was left unable to have children. They put the dead kidney in my son.
Cindy of Norwalk, Ohio
For years I had felt like I had the flu every day. It didn’t last long, just a few hours each evening. It started to get worse and I started to look for an answer. I also started gaining weight, even when controlling diet and exercise. The doctors did a few tests and found a tumor on my adrenal gland. They treated me for stress. I got worse on their treatment.