Effects Of A Communication-And-Resolution Program On Hospitals' Malpractice Claims And Costs.

To promote communication with patients after medical injuries and improve patient safety, numerous hospitals have implemented communication-and-resolution programs (CRPs). Through these programs, hospitals communicate transparently with patients after adverse events; investigate what happened and offer an explanation; and, when warranted, apologize, take responsibility, and proactively offer compensation. Despite growing consensus that CRPs are the right thing to do, concerns over liability risks remain.

How policy makers can smooth the way for communication-and- resolution programs.

Communication-and-resolution programs (CRPs) in health care organizations seek to identify medical injuries promptly; ensure that they are disclosed to patients compassionately; pursue timely resolution through patient engagement, explanation, and, where appropriate, apology and compensation; and use lessons learned to improve patient safety. CRPs have existed for years, but they are being tested in new settings and primed for broad implementation through grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These projects do not require changing laws.

Disclosure, apology, and offer programs: stakeholders' views of barriers to and strategies for broad implementation.

Context: The Disclosure, Apology, and Offer (DA&O) model, a response to patient injuries caused by medical care, is an innovative approach receiving national attention for its early success as an alternative to the existing inherently adversarial, inefficient, and inequitable medical liability system. Examples of DA&O programs, however, are few.

Methods: Through key informant interviews, we investigated the potential for more widespread implementation of this model by provider organizations and liability insurers, defining barriers to implementation and strategies for overcoming them.

Banning tobacco sales in Massachusetts' pharmacies.

Bans on the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies allow pharmacies to provide health information and services without the conflict of interest posed by concurrent tobacco sales. As health care providers, pharmacies are trusted sources of information for patients. The existence of tobacco products in pharmacies is contrary to their mission as a health care entity.

Understanding childhood obesity in America: linkages between household income, community resources, and children's behaviors.

Background: Understanding childhood obesity's root causes is critical to the creation of strategies to improve our children's health. We sought to define the association between childhood obesity and household income and how household income and childhood behaviors promote childhood obesity.

Methods: We assessed body mass index in 109,634 Massachusetts children, identifying the percentage of children who were overweight/obese versus the percentage of children in each community residing in low-income homes.