Health care professionals and facilities face many challenges. Staffing shortages and low reimbursement rates confront those who must decide how to meet demands for technology enhancements and patient safety. Not meeting federal or state requirements is not an option, as that would be clear evidence of standards noncompliance. Data suggested that health care took more lives than those lost to motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, AIDS, and workplace accidents. The report suggested that these deaths were due largely to bad systems in American health care. Ultimately, a consistent methodology and uniform meanings for terms should help propel the development of patient safety standards measures.
