Preventable medical errors may cost the United States up to $1 trillion dollars in lost human potential and contributions, according to the Journal of Health Care Finance.
That estimate is exponentially higher than previous studies, which focused solely on direct medical expenses associated with preventable medical errors. Previous studies showed the economic impact to range from $17 billion up to $50 billion annually and only focused on direct medical costs such as ancillary services, prescription drug services, and inpatient and outpatient care.
"Previous studies do not come close to illustrating the economic loss of human potential and contribution, which families, colleagues, businesses, and communities experience when someone dies from a preventable medical error," says author Stephen Davidow, a Chicago-based health analyst. "The magnitude of the problem for our society is many orders of magnitude greater than just the medical costs."
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
