Investigation of incidence and financial burden of medical errors and policy interventions to address them

Abstract

Absrtract Introduction: Medical errors and their costs are one of the most critical challenges facing medical services. Objective: Our objective was to estimate the incidence of medical errors and related costs and to provide a policy brief to reduce medical errors and the resulting financial burden in Iranian hospitals. Material and Methods: In the first phase of this multi-method study, available information was extracted from 39 studied hospitals. Using the provided formula and Delphi method, the incidence of medical errors was estimated. In the second phase, we have examined the relationship between medical errors and the factors affecting them. In the third phase, through umbrella review and meta-analysis, we investigated the estimation of the occurrence of medical errors and compared it with the results obtained from the first phase. In the fourth phase, we have started to examine the costs related to medical errors imposed on the health system. The fifth phase has been done by conducting umbrella review, semi-structured interviews and presenting a policy brief of strategies to reduce medical errors and related costs in Iran. Results: The average report of medical errors in the studied hospitals is 2.3%, and the incidence based on the estimate is 69.3-2.6%. In the second phase, the first and third hypotheses were confirmed. In the third phase, the highest error rate related to medication error was 0.35 and the lowest value was 0.00 related to specific management criteria, and there was no correlation between the results of error incidence in the studied hospitals and the meta-analysis results. The total hospital expenses and claims were 129/160/706/459 rials. A policy brief was prepared by presenting seven policy options. Conclusion: The presented policy summary can be a guide for health policy makers in reducing medical errors.