A HealthGrades report indicates that there have been between 400,000-1.2 million error-induced deaths during 1996–2006 in the United States. On top of that, $60 to $80 billion is lost each year in the healthcare system due to fraud, waste, and abuse. How can you protect yourself from these alarming numbers?

As a patient you have many resources at your fingertips. Before you even visit a healthcare facility or provider, perform a due diligence check on both the facility and the provider.

First, confirm your physician’s NPI number – all physicians are required to have a NPI number for Medicare billing. Even if a physician is not billing Medicare, they need to have a NPI number to refer patients to other physicians.

Here is a free site to find your physician’s and facilities’ (where you will be receiving the treatment) NPI number.

Second, authenticate your physician’s and facilities’ information with the NPI registry. Here you will be able to confirm the provider’s legal business name and/or location, contact information, and NPI number. The NPI Registry is a free service located here.

Third, research the background history of your provider to see whether he/she has been disciplined, fined, or has had a suspended license. The State of Illinois License Lookup allows you to confirm all licenses distributed by the State of Illinois including MD, RN, PharmD, DO, etc.

Finally, a simple Internet search on the provider/facility may garner surprising results. Oftentimes, pending lawsuits and court filings appear at the top of Internet searches if the provider/facility is involved.

If you suspect anything, remember to request a copy of your medical records and billing statements. By performing your own mini-investigation you will be able to determine if your provider is supplementing or omitting information from your medical records or billing statements.

Useful sites:

NPI Registry

NPI Number Lookup

State of Illinois License Lookup

With the holidays right around the corner, many of us will be rushing around, finishing up holiday shopping, attending parties, eating too much… the list goes on.

However, people still get hurt and sick around the holidays and are in the hospital. Hospital staff is lighter around the holidays, giving providers some much needed family time. On the other hand, less providers and tired staff can lead to medical errors.

A recent article by Dr. Bialek of www.covermd.com looks at the top ten most common medical errors in the United States.

1. Technical medical error
Ex: Provider cutting the wrong artery in a heart surgery, leading to complications or death.

2. Failure to use indicated tests
Ex: Patient having chest pains, but doctor failing to perform an EKG and patient has a heart attack.

3. Avoidable delay in treatment
Ex: Patient complains of stomach pains, isn’t seen quickly by ER attendees because of more urgent manners, patient’s appendix erupts causing severe internal bleeding.

4. Failure to take precautions
Ex: Patient is weak and has a history of falling. Nurse takes patient from the bed to the bathroom, unaware of patient’s weakness. Patient falls and fractures hip.

5. Failure to act on test results
Ex: Patient feels dizzy and sick. Doctor orders blood test, believes it’s an infection and sends the patient off with antibiotics. Test results come back, but doctor fails to look at them thinking she just has an infection. Patient ends up in a diabetic comma.

6. Inadequate monitoring after a procedure
Patient has a routine surgery. After surgery, patient is on narcotics. Nurses fail to monitor the patient, although patient’s parents are in the room. They do not realize that the patient has stopped breathing.
Another important list is errors with serious consequences. These occur mostly in intensive care units, operating rooms, and emergency departments.

7. Inadequate patient preparation before a procedure
Patient goes in for surgery. The provider fails to check with the patient to see what medications the patient is taking before surgery is performed. The patient is currently taking a blood thinner. During surgery and bleed occurs and the patient dies.

8. Inadequate follow-up after treatment
Patient has surgery. After surgery the doctor tells the patient to call for any changes in temperature, feeling, etc. Patient feels drowsy and nauseous from anesthesia and blames it on that. When the patient calls the doctor, the doctor tells the patient to wait 24 hours. Patient comes down with a deadly infection.

9. Avoidable delay in diagnosis
Patient comes in after blacking out after being assaulted. Provider waits 12 hours for a CT scan. Patient’s brain is bleeding and never wakes up.

10. Improper medication dose and/or method of use
Ex: A drug mix up causes a patient to take 10 times the normal dose. Patient dies a result.

A recent report highlighted that more than 13 % of Medicare patients in the U.S. experience an adverse event each month in American hospitals – resulting in 15,000 deaths.

AOL Health’s recent article states, “The news is startling, particularly since the report points out that 44 % of adverse incidents occurring in hospitals are avoidable. And all-together, these adverse events are costing Medicare more than $300 million a month.”

Now what are some types of medical errors that have occurred?
1. A doctor operated on and amputated the wrong leg of a veteran.

2. An elderly woman received the wrong blood type during a blood transfusion.

3. A CT scan being performed on a pregnant woman who had a similar name to a patient who was having abdominal pain resulting in harm to the unborn baby.

Link to other, unforgivable medical errors.

Doctors Community Hospital was fined $30,000 for violating a law that says all Maryland hospitals must report serious medical errors. The penalty was set at $95,000, but Doctors Community Hospital promised to set aside $65,000 to develop a safety program for patients.

Some of the unreported errors include: A patient being attacked by another patient’s visitor, an 8-day delay on IV medication for a man known to have heart failure, and a case where an antibiotic was mistakenly given to a patient after a technician thought it was plain IV fluid.

Read full article here.

This should be a warning to patients and healthcare providers. Hospitals should be required to report serious medical errors because patients have the right to know what sort of medical care they will receive at any given hospital. Medical Business Associates, Inc. recommends that patients take charge of their own healthcare and well being by developing and maintaining a Personal Healthcare Portfolio.