Outcome-Based Regulatory Strategies for Promoting Greater Patient Safety

Abstract

The patient safety movement seeks to reduce the number of avoidable injuries and diseases that patients suffer while in hospital. Two regulatory strategies in support of that movement are explored here. “Required disclosure” would rely on market responses to an increase in publicly available information about hospital errors. “Performance-based regulation” would require hospitals to reduce their error rate or suffer substantial financial penalties. Both approaches are designed to give medical service providers incentives to promote safety without resorting to “command and control” regulation under which government experts tell hospitals how to act.