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A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

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The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Nevada Lawmakers Urged to Tackle Medical Errors

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011   

LAS VEGAS - Infection rates are the kinds of statistics Nevada consumers should be aware of before they enter a local hospital, according to Nevada attorney Bill Bradley. He hopes a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spurs state lawmakers to take action to uncover the potential health risks at hospitals. The report says 180,000 Americans eligible for Medicare die every year as the result of medical errors.

"The hospitals are required to keep track of those, but have always fought vigorously to prevent that information from becoming public."

Local hospitals say they comply with current law that requires them to report "sentinel events" to the state, incidents in which patients are harmed or could potentially have been harmed. However, Bradley believes the reporting system could be improved through better record-keeping and sharing, so consumers know more about such risks.

Christine Hines, consumer and civil justice counsel for the Washington, D.C., group Public Citizen, says Congress and federal agencies should treat the new report as a wakeup call.

"We would support a national, mandatory error-reporting database, where medical providers would be able to look at where the errors are and develop best practices so that they won't reoccur."

Bradley points to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found hospital quality initiatives over the past decade have not made progress in reducing medical errors.

"In 2004, the health industry convinced Nevada voters that if they limited their rights against healthcare professionals and hospitals the quality of care would go up. And this study proves that promise has not worked out."

Consumer advocates say in addition to the human toll, medical errors cost the nation's taxpayers more than $4 billion a year in additional Medicare payments.

The New England Journal of Medicine report is online at www.nejm.org.




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