• 20
  • June
    2011

Studies on medical malpractice are normally focused on medical malpractice and medical mistakes that occur at hospitals in the United States. A recent study aimed to figure out how many medical mistakes and medical malpractice issues occur outside of the hospital in private practices across the country. The new study found that medical malpractice claims outside of the hospital are just as common as inside the hospital.

The new study found that nearly 50 percent of all medical malpractice payments in the United States dealt with patients seen outside of the hospital. The results of the study were unexpected as previous studies on medical malpractice entirely focused on the number of malpractice claims filed by patients who received treatment in hospitals.

As it turns out, the number of medical malpractice and medical mistakes claims is practically the same for doctors' offices and hospitals. While medical checklists have been developed at hospitals around the United States to curb medical mistakes, there was a lack of knowledge about mistakes at private offices. Researchers thought it was time to review private office claims as the number of invasive and high technology diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in outpatient settings has increased. The researchers said the results of the study were a wake-up call for the medical community and for patients.

There are 30 times more outpatient visits than hospital discharges every year, but the most common errors in outpatient settings were different. Surgical mistakes are the most common medical mistake in hospitals whereas misdiagnosis is the most common mistake in private offices.

Better communication and the encouragement of patients to keep their doctors informed can help reduce the number of medical mistakes in the outpatient setting.

Source: Reuters, "Medical errors don't just happen at hospitals: study," 6/14/11