Roundtable on public policy affecting patient safety.

On April 15, 2010, patient safety experts were assembled to discuss the adequacy of the public policy response to the Institute of Medicine report "To Err is Human" 10 years after its publication. The experts concluded that additional government actions should be considered. Actions that deserve consideration include the development of an educational campaign to improve public and provider understanding of the issue as a means to support change similar to successful public health campaigns, support the evolution of payment reform away from fee for service, create a clearer aim or goal for patient safety activities, support the development and use of better safety measures to judge status and improvement, and support for additional learning of what works particularly on implementation issues.

The nongroup market as one element of a broader coverage-expansion strategy.

Effective health insurance provides financial protection and access to services that maintain and improve health. Such coverage is difficult to obtain in the nongroup market, however, because of a lack of sponsorship, the nature of coverage available, adverse selection, and high administrative costs. However, certain interventions could make this market an effective avenue for expanding coverage to moderate- to high-income persons who lack access to employer-based coverage.