The Problem

Medication Errors rank as the 8^th leading cause of death in the United States.
As stated by the 1999 Institute of Medicine Report " To Err is Human: Building a safer health system", 44,000 - 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors. Apart from the loss the errors cause to life, there are some grave financial losses incurred as well. It has been estimated that financial losses caused by medication errors amount to 17 to 29 billion USD. On an average, a patient will be subjected to a medication error each day he or she occupies a hospital bed.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s March 2001 Report, “Reducing and Preventing Adverse Drug Events to Decrease Hospital Costs” also reported a cost of 5.6 million USD due to prolonged hospitalizations inflicted by adverse drug events.

A new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, documents 1.5 million people being exposed to medication errors and an extra and an additional medical cost of 3.5 billion USD annually for treating them.