Indiana requires reporting of hospital "never" errors; sees immediate reduction
The September 1 Journal Gazette reported that "what gets measured gets done." It noted that when Governor Mitch Daniels was elected in 2005, he immediately ordered the Indiana State Department of Health to institute a system tracking so-called "never" events: malpractice errors that should never happen, such as operating on the wrong limb or discharging a baby to the wrong mother.
As a result of the process of shining a light on these events and the basic procedures necessary to prevent them, the newspaper reported that the number of such "never" events dropped by ten percent between 2008 and 2009. In 2009, 94 events were reported in Indiana--the lowest number recorded in the four years since the system was initiated.