| December 7, 1999 | 03 00050 61 99120701 |
Mr. Tom Driscoll
Director of Operations
tom.driscoll@kp.org
Call Center
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
1950 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94612
| Subject: | National Effort to Cut Medical Mistakes |
Dear Tom,
President Clinton announced today a national initiative to reduce medical mistakes. This is the leadership we discussed yesterday, as essential for progress. Of course the same effort is needed in other sectors (e.g., NASA,, law, technology, construction, etc.), but medicine gets singled out because its mistakes cause pain and suffering. New money has been added for research, and future budgets will grow to address this concern. Since communication is the predicate to action, it is the biggest cause of mistakes that must be solved, as explained in my letter on September 24. Kaiser can benefit patients and the bottom line by leading the solution to the communication problem.
Sincerely,
Rod
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
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