Johns Hopkins to open new $10 million patient safety institute - media

"The medical community put a focus on patient safety more than a decade ago, when the Institute of Medicine released a report blaming medical errors for up to 100,000 patient deaths a year. Patient safety researchers and advocates say little has been done to prevent those errors, and they now believe the number of mistakes is much higher....."

New Patient Safety Initiative Stresses Teamwork, Not Blame - Dr Berwick/Medscape "Doing It Right Costs Less Than Doing It Wrong"

"....Both Dr. Berwick and Sebelius said that the new program works hand in hand with the new healthcare act  (U.S.) , which measures and pays for the kind of high-quality, coordinated care envisioned in the initiative. In addition, similar to the Affordable Care Act, Partnership for Patients addresses the problem of runaway healthcare costs.

"The options are either to cut care or improve care," said Dr. Berwick. "I'm against cutting. I'm for improving. Doing [healthcare] right costs less than doing it wrong."

For more information about Partnership for Patients, visit the HHS Web site.