This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Patient Safety/ Medical Error  • Quality of Care, Other  • Law and Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic

Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2007;298(22):2611.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Finalized regulations for the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, signed into law in 2005, have yet to be issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D, Mass) wants to know why.

Sen Edward M. Kennedy (D, Mass) is questioning why the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act has yet to be implemented. (Photo credit: Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy)

Once it is in operation, the law will establish a confidential reporting structure in which health care professionals can voluntarily report information on errors. The legislation is intended to balance confidentiality and legal protections for those reporting errors while maintaining accountability and patients' legal rights.

In an October 18 letter to DHHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, Kennedy noted that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality had submitted recommendations for the regulations at . . . [Full Text of this Article]