Senate unanimously approves quality improvement bill

On July 21, the Senate unanimously approved legislation to improve patient safety and to reduce medical errors. The bill, known as the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, will amend title IX of the Public Health Service Act. It will also encourage the reporting of healthcare mistakes to patient safety organizations and offer protection to employees and providers who participate in "collecting, developing, reporting, or maintaining patient safety data."

After the House acts on the patient safety bill, which is expected to occur later this week, it could be sent to the president to be signed into law.

Details of the bill are available at http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:1:./temp/~c109wU4HDt::.