Special Issue: Progress at the Intersection of Patient Safety and Medical Liability.

Ridgely MS, Greenberg MD, Clancy CM, eds. Health Serv Res. 2016;51(suppl 3):2395-2648.

Medical liability reform has been a subject of considerable debate. This special issue includes numerous articles exploring topics related to medical liability and patient safety. One study examined whether health care organizations and malpractice insurers could collaborate to implement a communication and resolution program to improve health care quality. Another article described how efforts to reduce perinatal harm, largely through standardization of best practices and implementation of team training, led to a reduction in malpractice claims. An observational study showcased how implementation of AHRQ's Communication and Optimal Resolution toolkit (CANDOR) at a single health system was associated with improved identification of safety issues and a decline in malpractice claims. Concluding editorials highlight lessons learned from an AHRQ-funded multifaceted intervention to mitigate risk in ambulatory care and make the case for creating a national surveillance system for malpractice claims.

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