Drug Topics - October 15, 2007 - (Page 21)

OCTOBER 15, 2007 DRUG TOPICS 21 REDUCING YOUR RISK 12 10 Percent 8 6 4 2 0 Most non-bodily injury claims are for release of confidential information. Also included within the “non-bodily injury” category are a few claims for false arrest (calling police for a suspected forged prescription) and even fewer for defamation. The “other” category is a combination of claim types appearing relatively infrequently, not exceeding 1% of the total of all claims. This “other” category includes allegations of illegal actions by the pharmacist (0.04%, not covered by insurance, if proven); failure to use safety caps (0.2%); improper and usually incorrect generic substitution (0.4%); and compounding (1%). The compounding claims are somewhat distorted since this category was only included in 1998. In a short article, we can only touch the surface of the scope and use of the Pharmacists Mutual Claims Study. One immediate use of the information is to allow pharmacies to prioritize implementation of a quality assurance program. Mechanical errors represent over 80% of the claims against pharmacists. A program designed to reduce claims should start with designing a work flow that will reduce mechanical errors. In future articles, we will look at other aspects of this study, including the question of which drugs are most often involved in claims and which drugs are found in the largest number of errors and quality-related events. They are not the same. Information and the Claims Study are available from Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Co. at www.phmic.com. the author is a pharmacist and a lawyer who consults in areas in which he has worked for more than 30 years. He can be reached at kenbakerconsulting.com. Source of data The Pharmacists Mutual Claims Study is reprinted with permission of Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Co. As with all studies, when interpreting the results, the reader should understand how and when the data are collected. The categories were first assigned in 1988, with “compounded prescriptions” added in 1998. When a claim is received by a Pharmacists Mutual claims representative, a determination is made as to whether it involves allegations of pharmacy professional liability. If so, it is assigned to a special team of claims adjusters that specialize in these claims. These are usually pharmacist-lawyers or certified pharmacy technicians trained in adjusting claims. Most of these claims are first reported by telephone and usually are reported by the pharmacist involved. When the claim is first set up, it is assigned an allegation code. These are the codes shown on the charts. Only one allegation code is assigned per claim. The Pharmacists Mutual Claims Study used here represents in excess of 7,000 professional pharmacy liability claims from 1989 through 2006. http://www.phmic.com http://kenbakerconsulting.com

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Drug Topics - October 15, 2007 Contents Drugs in the Pipeline for Diabetes Vanquishing Med Errors from Abbreviations What Pharmacy Schools Never Taught You The Week at a Glance What Kinds of Mistakes Do Pharmacists Make?

Drug Topics - October 15, 2007

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